CAPE TOWN, South Africa: The United States Embassy in South Africa said Thursday it received a list of more than 67,000 people interested in refugee status in the US under President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate members of a white minority group he claims are victims of racial discrimination by their Black-led government.
The list was given to the embassy by the South African Chamber of Commerce in the US, which said it became a point of contact for white South Africans asking about the program announced by the Trump administration last month. The chamber said the list does not constitute official applications.
Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 cutting US funding to South Africa and citing “government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”
Trump’s executive order specifically referred to Afrikaners, a white minority group who are descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers who first came to South Africa in the 17th century. The order directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to prioritize humanitarian relief to Afrikaners who are victims of “unjust racial discrimination” and resettle them in the US under the refugee program.
There are approximately 2.7 million Afrikaners in South Africa, which has a population of 62 million. Trump’s decision to offer some white South Africans refugee status went against his larger policy to halt the US refugee resettlement program.
The South African government has said that Trump’s allegations that it is targeting Afrikaners through a land expropriation law are inaccurate and largely driven by misinformation. Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that Afrikaners were having their farmland seized, when no land has been taken under the new law.
The executive order also criticized South Africa’s foreign policy, specifically its decision to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a case at the United Nations’ top court. The Trump administration has accused South Africa of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran and taking an anti-American stance. The US has also expelled the South African ambassador, accusing him of being anti-America and anti-Trump.
An official at the US Embassy in the South African capital, Pretoria, confirmed receipt of the list of names from the South African Chamber of Commerce in the US but gave no more detail.
Neil Diamond, the president of the chamber, said the list contains 67,042 names. Most were people between 25 and 45 years old and have children.
He told the Newzroom Afrika television channel that his organization had been inundated with requests for more information since Trump’s order and had contacted the State Department and the embassy in Pretoria “to indicate that we would like them to make a channel available for South Africans that would like to get more information and register for refugee status.”
“That cannot be the responsibility of the chamber,” he said.
Diamond said only US authorities could officially register applications for resettlement in the United States. The US Embassy in South Africa said it is awaiting further instructions on the implementation of Trump’s order.
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67,000 white South Africans express interest in Trump’s plan to give them refugee status
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67,000 white South Africans express interest in Trump’s plan to give them refugee status
- Trump has offered refugee status to some white South Africans who claimed they are victims of racial discrimination by their Black-led government
UK govt bans pro-Palestinian march over alleged Iran support
- The UK government has banned an annual pro-Palestinian march planned for Sunday which London police claim is organized by a group “supportive of the Iranian regime“
LONDON: The UK government has banned an annual pro-Palestinian march planned for Sunday which London police claim is organized by a group “supportive of the Iranian regime.”
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood said late Tuesday she had approved the rare police request to prevent “serious public disorder” if the Al-Quds Day march and counter-protests had gone ahead.
It is the first time a protest march has been banned since 2012 but a static demonstration will be permitted, according to London’s Metropolitan police.
Mahmood said she was “satisfied” a ban was “necessary” due to “the scale of the protest and multiple counter-protests, in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”
The minister added that she expected to see “the full force of the law applied to anyone spreading hatred and division.”
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), an NGO which organizes the annual Al-Quds Day march, said it “strongly condemns” the decision, which it called “politically charged.”
“We are seeking legal advice and this decision will not go unchallenged,” it added, accusing the Met of having “brazenly abandoned their sworn principle of policing without fear or favor.”
It said the London force “unashamedly regurgitate Zionist talking points about the IHRC “without a shred of evidence.”
The group describes the day and march as an “international demonstration ... in support of Palestinians and all the oppressed around the world.”
- ‘Unique risks’ -
Al-Quds day, which takes its name from the Arabic for Jerusalem, originated in Iran in 1979 in support of the Palestinian people, and is now marked annually in various countries, notably in the Muslim world. It aims to protest Israel’s occupation of east Jerusalem.
But the Met’s Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said it was “uniquely contentious having originated in Iran and in London is organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission.”
He claimed that the organization was “supportive of the Iranian regime.”
“The threshold to ban a protest is high and we do not take this decision lightly,” Adelekan said.
He noted the Met has “a proven track record” of permitting free speech and protest rights at dozens of major pro-Palestinian and other demonstrations in recent years.
“But in our assessment this march raises unique risks and challenges,” he said.
“We must consider the likely high numbers of protesters and counter protesters coming together and the extreme tensions between different factions.
“We have taken into consideration the likely impact on protests of the volatile situation in the Middle East, with the Iranian regime attacking British allies and military bases overseas.”
The ban on the march and any associated counter-protest marches is valid for a month from Wednesday.
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood said late Tuesday she had approved the rare police request to prevent “serious public disorder” if the Al-Quds Day march and counter-protests had gone ahead.
It is the first time a protest march has been banned since 2012 but a static demonstration will be permitted, according to London’s Metropolitan police.
Mahmood said she was “satisfied” a ban was “necessary” due to “the scale of the protest and multiple counter-protests, in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”
The minister added that she expected to see “the full force of the law applied to anyone spreading hatred and division.”
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), an NGO which organizes the annual Al-Quds Day march, said it “strongly condemns” the decision, which it called “politically charged.”
“We are seeking legal advice and this decision will not go unchallenged,” it added, accusing the Met of having “brazenly abandoned their sworn principle of policing without fear or favor.”
It said the London force “unashamedly regurgitate Zionist talking points about the IHRC “without a shred of evidence.”
The group describes the day and march as an “international demonstration ... in support of Palestinians and all the oppressed around the world.”
- ‘Unique risks’ -
Al-Quds day, which takes its name from the Arabic for Jerusalem, originated in Iran in 1979 in support of the Palestinian people, and is now marked annually in various countries, notably in the Muslim world. It aims to protest Israel’s occupation of east Jerusalem.
But the Met’s Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said it was “uniquely contentious having originated in Iran and in London is organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission.”
He claimed that the organization was “supportive of the Iranian regime.”
“The threshold to ban a protest is high and we do not take this decision lightly,” Adelekan said.
He noted the Met has “a proven track record” of permitting free speech and protest rights at dozens of major pro-Palestinian and other demonstrations in recent years.
“But in our assessment this march raises unique risks and challenges,” he said.
“We must consider the likely high numbers of protesters and counter protesters coming together and the extreme tensions between different factions.
“We have taken into consideration the likely impact on protests of the volatile situation in the Middle East, with the Iranian regime attacking British allies and military bases overseas.”
The ban on the march and any associated counter-protest marches is valid for a month from Wednesday.
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