JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —President Trump has announced that no U.S. officials will attend the G20 Summit hosted by South Africa – the current rotating chair of the group of major world economies – in Johannesburg later this month, citing "human rights" concerns. Vice President JD Vance had been due to attend in Trump's place.
"It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated," Trump posted on Truth Social over the weekend. He previously said South Africa should be kicked out of "the gs" altogether.
Trump has been relentlessly critical of South Africa since his return to office.
He ambushed the country's president Cyril Ramaphosa during a White House visit in May falsely accusing his government of seizing white-owned land; cut aid to South Africa; his administration expelled the South African ambassador to Washington; slapped the country with 30 percent tariffs; repeated debunked far-right claims about a white genocide - and as a result prioritized Afrikaners for fast-track refugee status in the U.S. (while stopping refugee admissions from most other countries).
The South African government has repeatedly tried to correct the White House, providing statistics that disprove these claims – for example the fact that Black people are by far the worst affected by violent crime and that whites still own the majority of commercial farmland – to no avail.
Now, some white Afrikaners themselves, as well as Afrikaans groups, are calling out what they say are the U.S. administration's "lies" and "falsehoods" in their name.
"We reject the narrative that casts Afrikaners as victims of racial persecution in post-apartheid South Africa," a group of over 40 prominent Afrikaners said in an open letter last month. "We are not pawns in America's culture wars."
The group included writers, journalists, musicians, university lecturers and Christian clergy.
"Afrikaners have done harm in the past, and we acknowledge that," the letter said, referring to the fact that their ancestors – as well as British settlers – colonized the country. The Afrikaners later set up the apartheid system which segregated the races, prevented the Black majority from voting, and brutally clamped down on dissent.
"As citizens of post-apartheid South Africa, we have dedicated ourselves to building our country. Singling us out as victims of multiracialism alienates us from our fellow-South Africans and harms relationships that have been fostered over the past 30 years."
'Please stop lying'
Max du Preez, an Afrikaner journalist and author who was among the signatories of the letter, told NPR they rejected the narrative coming out of the White House as "the abuse of our ethnic identity to further the MAGA movement's interests."
"There is no genocide in South Africa, there's absolutely no persecution of anyone based on race. Our constitution has iron-clad protection of every citizen's human rights," he said.
"Not a single square inch of white-owned land has been confiscated since we became a democracy in 1994," du Preez added. "Please stop lying about us and using us as pawns."
Trump has repeatedly said he particularly wants to help white Afrikaans farmers. But some agricultural organizations that represent them have stressed their businesses will be hurt too if the US sanctions South Africa.
Christo van der Rheede represented white farmers for years as head of the biggest agricultural organization in South Africa. He now leads the FW De Klerk Foundation, named for the former Afrikaans president who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela for their roles in ending apartheid.
"It is now very important for all South Africans to unite and refute the statements by President Donald Trump…that Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. This is simply not true," van der Rheede said after Trump's G20 announcement.
He said the U.S. should reconsider boycotting the G20.
"The role of the G20 as a key driver of uniting and building a better and just world is critical and it will be very negative for the US and its business interests in South Africa should it continue to premise its reasons for staying away on falsehoods," he added.
Despite the pushback from some segments of Afrikaans society, there are others who are fierce supporters of Trump and have welcomed his position on South Africa.
For years some Afrikaner groups have been travelling to the US pushing the "white genocide" narrative and lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
For its part, the South African government released a measured statement noting Trump's announcement.
"We really think this is going to be one of the most significant G20's to date albeit without the U.S.A. I think that is something that will affect the U.S. as a country, not the entire G20," Chrispin Phiri, spokesman for the Department of International Relations, later told NPR.
The summit will be attended by European heads of state and China's President Xi Jinping is expected. Its theme – which the US State Department has objected to – is "solidarity, equality and sustainability."
"South Africa is doing very bad things," Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X in February. "Using G20 to promote "solidarity, equality, & sustainability." In other words: DEI and climate change."
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