No, there isn’t a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

On 12 May, 59 Afrikaners arrived in Washington to receive “refugee” status. At a press conference, President Trump said he had acted because Afrikaners - the white minority community that ruled South Africa during apartheid - face an existential threat. His words echoed the views of his South African born former adviser, Elon Musk, who has repeatedly used his X platform to amplify false claims of a “white genocide”. Many South Africans, including several Afrikaners that we have spoken to, dismiss the idea that they are under attack as wild misinformation. So where does the idea that white South Africans are being uniquely targeted come from? And what impact is it having on the diplomatic relationship between the White House and Pretoria? This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from BBC Trending in-depth reporting on the world of social media.

Transcript

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0:00.0	When Donald Trump became president in January, one of his first acts was to halt the program that allowed refugees to come to the US.
0:08.7	Overnight, foreigners fleeing war and persecution in their home countries found that they were no longer welcome in America.
0:15.9	But there is one group of people who President Trump decided to make an exception for, raising considerable eyebrows.
0:23.4	White South Africans.
0:25.8	On the 12th of May, 59 Afrikaners arrived in Washington to receive refugee status.
0:32.2	At a press conference, President Trump said that he had acted because Afrikaners, the white community that largely ruled South Africa during apartheid, face an existential threat.
0:42.8	They happen to be white, but whether they're white or black makes no difference to me.
0:48.0	And a couple of weeks later, while hosting the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, during a live news conference,
0:55.0	Trump repeated widely discredited claims of a white genocide taking place in South Africa.
1:01.5	You're taking people's land away from them. And those people in many cases are being
1:07.4	executed. They're being executed. And they happen to be white and most of them
1:13.1	happen to be farmers. His words echoed the views of his South African-born former advisor,
1:18.7	Elon Musk, who's repeatedly used his ex-platform to amplify claims of a white genocide.
1:24.5	But many South Africans dismiss this image of their country as wild misinformation.
1:30.2	I'm a white African-speaking farmer. My family are white-speaking Afrikaans farmers. I've never
1:38.7	witnessed a genocide. Other South Africans have ridiculed the idea that Afrikaners are currently being persecuted,
1:46.5	showing videos on X of white people dancing cheered on by their fellow black South Africans.
1:52.2	Captions with the Trump quote, there are horrible things happening in South Africa.
2:00.3	South Africa does have one of the highest murder rates in the world, affecting citizens of all backgrounds.
2:06.9	So where does this idea that white South Africans are being uniquely targeted come from?
2:12.4	Welcome to BBC Trending. With me, Jonathan Griffin, and from Johannesburg. I'm joined by South African journalist
2:18.1	Impo Lackashe.
	...

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