South Africa has criticized the United States while reports emerging suggesting that Washington could receive white Afrikaners as refugees next week.
A document seen by the American partner of the BBC CBS describes potential resettlement as a “priority” for the government of President Donald Trump, but the time has not been publicly confirmed by the White House.
In a statement published FridayThe South African Ministry of Africa described the alleged decision as “politically motivated” and designed to undermine the “constitutional democracy” of South Africa.
In February, Trump described Afrikaners as victims of “racial discrimination” in a decree, opening up their prospect to reinstall themselves in the United States.
South African authorities have said that they would not block the departures of those chosen for resettlement, but said they had asked for insurance in the United States that the selected persons had been fully verified and had not had criminal charges.
The press release added that allegations of discrimination against the country’s white minority were not founded and that crime statistics did not indicate that a racial group had been targeted in violent crimes on farms.
Some groups representing the rights of white farmers have said that they were deliberately killed because of their race.
A spokesperson for the US State Department told the BBC that they questioned those interested in reinstalling the United States and the prioritization of “Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination”.
They did not confirm when resettlement would start.
The Trump administration also accused South Africa of seizing the land of white farmers without compensation, which Pretoria has denied several times.
Elon Musk, a higher advisor to the Trump administration who grew up in South Africa during apartheid, criticized Pretoria, saying that he is leading a “genocide” against white farmers.
US officials planned a press event on Monday at Dulles in Virginia to host the group, the documents seen by CBS Show.
According to American media, 54 Afrikaners will arrive as part of the first group.
The decision to accept South Africans as refugees comes when the Trump administration has interrupted almost all the asylum claims of migrants.
In February, South Africa criticized Trump’s executive order opening the United States to the resettlement of white Afrikaners, affirming in a statement that “it is ironic” the United States is open to accepting a group “which remains among the most economically privileged” “while refusing vulnerable people in other parts of world asylum.
