President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to visit the US next week to meet President Donald Trump at the White House.
The meeting comes after unsubstantiated claims surfaced that Afrikaner farmers in South Africa are facing genocide and that the government was creating new policies aimed at confiscating land.
These claims caused an uproar from the US and Trump, who claimed that “bad things are happening in South Africa”.
This led to a group of 49 Afrikaners leaving for the US this week, responding to Trump’s earlier statement that they are welcome to relocate to the US as refugees.
Genocide claims rejected
During a media briefing on Thursday, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni rejected the genocide claims, questioning the legitimacy of the refugee status that is being claimed.
“We express the view that there is no refugee, they do not meet the criteria for refugee status, there is no violence against farmers,” said Ntshavheni.
“You must go to that list and check how many of those people are actually farmers because the argument is that there is genocide against white farmers in South Africa.”
Ntshavheni said Kallie Kriel, the AfriForum CEO, needs to take responsibility and explain the genocide claim, especially when the American government sees that thousands of Afrikaner farmers are not leaving South Africa.
She said it will be hard to even convince white South Africans that there is genocide happening in the country.
Trump invited Ramaphosa
Ntshavheni also emphasised that Ramaphosa was attending the meeting at the White House after a formal invitation.
“In terms of our expectation, we are not going to the US on our own. We have been invited by president Trump. He is the one that made a public announcement that he is going to meet with us next week.
“So, there is no one who invites a guest to mistreat them. We are expecting the highest level of decorum and necessary protocols to be accorded.”
She said differences between the two countries may arise but emphasised the importance of maintaining strong bilateral ties.
“There are more than 600 US companies in the country. Part of their largest automakers are in the country, and part of their biggest electronics and telecoms companies are also big investors in this country, whether it is Google, Amazon, or Microsoft. South African companies are also invested in the US.
“The US will also require the critical minerals, and we have approved the strategy. Our relationship is very mutually beneficial, and that is the focus of our emphasis.”
