<\/p>\n
LEADERS of the Afrikaner community, including farmers, have flatly rejected American President Donald Trump\u2019s call for their members who are aggrieved with South African government policies to move to his country on refugee status.<\/p>\n
International society woke up to shocking news that Trump has acted on his threats to punish South Africa for what he called, \u201cSouth Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people (Afrikaners) VERY BADLY\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump had on Friday signed an executive order, which stated his country would promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take appropriate steps, consistent with law, to prioritise humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch a plan shall be submitted to the President through the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor,\u201d read the order.<\/p>\n
During a media briefing on Saturday, the pro-Afrikaner AfriForum and Solidarity Movement rejected Trump\u2019s refugee status offer to Afrikaners.<\/p>\n
Talking to this reporter, Afrikaner Foundation executive director Ernst Roets perceived South Africa to be \u201ca very bad policy environment\u201d and that the government \u201cshould be called to order for increasingly radicalising the country for three decades\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we want to find solutions within South Africa, we always welcome international pressure being applied to South Africa when it comes to policy ideas.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we don\u2019t want to encourage people to leave,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said Afrikaners love South Africa because it is their country \u201cand there is no doubt about that\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cLots of people (Afrikaners) welcome international pressure put on South Africa, but I know that most people want to stay in South Africa,\u201d said Roets.<\/p>\n
There have been suspicions that certain people in South Africa were feeding misinformation around the world about their country, which led to Trump\u2019s hostile attitude toward the country.<\/p>\n
However, Roets said Americans, especially in Washington, have been researching for years about South Africa for the White House, therefore, he said: \u201cAmericans are very informed about South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said instead of calling for Afrikaners to migrate from their country, the Americans should call for the prosecution of \u201call corrupt politicians\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said there was no way the American government could advise South Africa on the policy issue because South Africa would not listen. He said although the land policy gave the judiciary a final decision over expropriation, this was impractical.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is complicated (because) of pressure on the judiciary to prove its commitment to transformation, and they are pressured by politicians through the Judicial Services Commission to be more progressive in their judgment,\u201d said Roets.<\/p>\n
AfriForum chief executive officer, Kallie Kriel, said his party was committed to the continent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can only survive as Afrikaners in the southern part of Africa, therefore, we are working hard to find a solution for this situation and we are going to put solutions to President Ramaphosa after a discussion with the USA,\u201d said Kriel.<\/p>\n
Both AfriForum and Solidarity Movement said they would soon visit America to plead with Trump not to punish all South Africans through by cancelling aid.<\/p>\n
Kriel said it would be a bad decision for Afrikaners to take Trump\u2019s offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur position would be the price is very high if you do that because you are going to lose your whole cultural identity and your next generation would not be Afrikaners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain committed to being the people of this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He emphasised that those who accused AfriForum of misinforming Trump were making AfriForum a scapegoat.<\/p>\n
He said AfriForum has never communicated its grievances directly to Trump, but it was raised by Afrikaners living in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfrikaners (in America) can read for themselves and could follow the situation, so it is baseless to create that impression. They are trying to find a scapegoat,\u201d said Kriel.<\/p>\n
Besides the Land Act, Afrikaner leaders were also aggrieved with the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, which they said its school language and admission clauses would erode the Afrikaner culture, and they are also unhappy about the government not taking action against certain politicians publicly expressing \u201chate speech\u201d such as \u201cKill the Boer\u201d.<\/p>\n
bongani.hans@inl.co.za<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LEADERS of the Afrikaner community, including farmers, have flatly rejected American President Donald Trump\u2019s call for their members who are aggrieved with South African government policies to move to his country on refugee status. International society woke up to shocking news that Trump has acted on his threats to punish South Africa for what he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[17630,7027,1276,4786,2805,11335,17628,6007,8481],"class_list":["post-231265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-afrikaner","tag-concerns","tag-land","tag-leaders","tag-offer","tag-policy","tag-refugee","tag-reject","tag-trumps"],"yoast_head":"\n