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Alex Lo

Long a staple of the North American far-right’s racist ideology, the so-called white genocide in South Africa has made it into mainstream politics.
That’s thanks to Donald Trump, and his one-time bestie the billionaire Elon Musk. This week, the US president tried to repeat the fireworks that greeted Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office by blindsiding visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with slides showing alleged atrocities against white farmers.
The televised meeting was supposed to focus on trade, especially Trump’s tariffs. Instead, he said, “Dim the lights”, and showed photos and video clips, including one of supposedly hundreds of graves of Afrikaner farmers.
It turned out those mounds with crosses were not real, but part of a 2020 protest in response to the murder of a white farming couple.
Violent crimes are endemic in South Africa, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Police statistics show 6,953 people were murdered across the country between October and December 2024. Of these, 12 were killed in farm attacks. Of the 12, one was a farmer, five were farm dwellers and four were employees who were probably black.
Ramaphosa acknowledged the problem of pervasive violent crimes, but denied whites were targeted, and certainly not by his government.
Whites make up about 7 per cent of the country’s population, but own most private farmland that is part of the legacy of apartheid.
The Ramaphosa government has introduced a law that allows for the expropriation of farmland without compensation in the public interest, but it has not been used so far. Trump and Musk have seized on the law as discrimination against white farmers.
Both the Trump and Joe Biden teams have been furious at South Africa for bringing a high-profile case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which has issued an injunction but been ignored by Israel.
Washington has been supplying weapons worth billions that Israel has used against the civilian population in Gaza since October 2023.
In contrast, the Trump administration has offered refugee status to white South Africans for alleged persecution. In March, it declared the South African ambassador persona non grata. He angered the White House by claiming in a public remark that it was pursuing “a white supremacist response to growing demographic diversity in the United States”.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed the US will not participate in the coming G20 summit hosted by South Africa.
The North American far-right has long claimed white genocide in South Africa and the “great replacement” to cleanse the US and Europe of their white majorities.
Musk has been a vocal promoter of the genocide claim in South Africa where he grew up. In recent weeks, his artificial intelligence company xAI caused public outrage after its chatbot, called Grok, kept bringing up South African politics, including “white genocide”, even in unrelated topics.
The company subsequently issued a statement claiming an unnamed employee was responsible for an “unauthorised modification” in the Grok coding that “violated xAI’s internal policies and core values”.
Meanwhile, the US and Germany now stand against the global consensus, including some Western allies, opposing Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. A US plan is afoot to help Israel ethnically cleanse Gaza of half its population.
A rare joint statement by Britain, France and Canada, said: “We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable … We call on the Israeli government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
“We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state … We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”
So, to distract the world from a real genocide, Trump spreads claims about a fake one.


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United States

Trump drums up a fake genocide while sponsoring real one in Gaza

US President Donald Trump shows an article claiming white genocide in South Africa at the White House in Washington on May 21. Photo: Reuters

Opinion

US president tries to confront South African counterpart in Oval Office with unsubstantiated allegations of atrocities against white farmers


US president tries to confront South African counterpart in Oval Office with unsubstantiated allegations of atrocities against white farmers.


My Take

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Column

Trump drums up a fake genocide while sponsoring real one in Gaza

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US president tries to confront South African counterpart in Oval Office with unsubstantiated allegations of atrocities against white farmers

US president tries to confront South African counterpart in Oval Office with unsubstantiated allegations of atrocities against white farmers