Almost 70,000 South African nationals who are Afrikaners have indicated some form of interest in taking up the refugee offer extended by US President Donald Trump.
In February, IOL reported that 18 hours after Trump's order to prioritise white Afrikaner South Africans for the US refugee programme, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA (SACCUSA) received over 10,000 relocation inquiries.
At the time, chamber president, Neil Diamond, said the inquiries were from people who wanted to relocate to the US with their families.
This week, Diamond has travelled to South Africa with his delegation, where he has met officials from the US embassy in Pretoria to hand over the names of individuals who have registered for relocation.
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Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Diamond said his organisation has been overwhelmed by the massive interest in the refugee programme.
"It was very important for the South African Chamber of Commerce in the US to travel to South Africa so that we could share the details of those folks that have registered on our website to receive more information and to express their interest in the refugee programme as contained in President Trump's executive order of February 7, 2025," he said.
"Immediately following the executive order, it was about 5pm US time, when we got the information. We related that information to some of the folks we knew in South Africa, and it just spread like a wildfire. By the time I woke up on Saturday morning, on February 8, I had 7,500 emails in my mailbox, over 2,500 texts, WhatsApp and Facebook messages - basically our mail serve crashed. We couldn't deal with the volume of inquiries that we received, which was totally unexpected."
Diamond said the list of Afrikaners seeking to relocate was 67,042, and the majority of the people are young South Africans. The majority of the applicants are aged between 25 and 45.
"They have between two to three dependents, so it is a clear indication that people expressing interest are really a younger generation, maybe a generation that has not fully enjoyed the benefits of our country and are seeking to get better opportunity for their children," he said.
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In February, IOL reported that the US embassy in South Africa assured thousands of protesters who descended on the diplomatic mission to show support and hand over grievances directed at President Trump that their petition would be conveyed.
At the time, IOL reported that thousands of South African Afrikaners had gathered at the US embassy in Pretoria voicing their support for Trump.
Some of the people gathered outside the embassy were seen with posters written: "Mr Donald Trump Thank You Very Much”; "Make South Africa Great Again" and "Recognise the White Nation like Israel was recognised".
Willem Petzer, who according to his Facebook page is an Afrikaner commentator, posted a video on social media where he said that more than 3,000 people were at the rally.
In a YouTube video, Petzer said that people were there to show their support for Trump's actions that he had taken against the SA government due to the Expropriation Act.
In a post shared on social media platform X, the US mission in Pretoria said it acknowledges the petition on South Africa’s land policies.
“The US embassy in South Africa received a petition this morning (Saturday) addressed to President Donald Trump, seeking US support to change policies and laws affecting Afikaner (spelling error) community in South Africa.
“We will transmit the full text of the document to the president and secretary of State for immediate action,” the embassy posted in February.
Last month, IOL reported that Trump had made good on his promise to cut funding to South Africa over the government’s land expropriation policy and resettle white farmers whose land will allegedly be expropriated.
In a late-night Executive Order, Trump accused South Africa’s government of “egregious actions” without providing any evidence, saying the recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 would seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.
Trump said this Act followed “countless government policies” designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and hateful rhetoric and government actions fuelling disproportionate violence against “racially disfavoured landowners”.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL