For SJ de Venage, a state lawmaker from South Africa’s right-wing coalition, the choice to depart his homeland beneath the U.S. refugee program created by President Donald Trump was formed by years of concern.
The previous youth chief of the far-right Conservative Occasion, which opposed the tip of apartheid, mentioned he grew up in concern of what would occur if white South Africans like him misplaced management of the nation, and that concern persists although he has not skilled any seen abuse.
Du Venage, 56, who’s presently a metropolis councilor for the Freedom Entrance Plus occasion within the Western Cape, is amongst a bunch of Afrikaners making use of for a program ordered by President Trump to help South Africa’s white minority going through racial persecution, a declare the federal government rejects as fantasy.
Allegation of persecution denied
Though all of Trump’s private claims of human rights abuses, together with allegations of state-sponsored violence and large-scale land seizures, have been denied, Du Venage stays in danger.
“When Trump’s supply got here, it was a godsend alternative,” Du Venage mentioned from his rented seaside home on St Helena Bay, north of Cape City.
Du Venage mentioned he underwent a seven-hour interview with USCIS in Pretoria in February to evaluate his eligibility.
He has offered his residence, accomplished the medical examination and background verify required by U.S. authorities, and is ready to see if he can be accepted.
The life coach and former private coach mentioned asylum purposes have been based mostly on concern of future persecution reasonably than previous victimization. The U.S. Embassy says any of them could also be eligible for this system.
Du Venage pointed to threatening messages he acquired from strangers after organizing a memorial for the white farmer whose 2020 homicide grew to become a flashpoint for racism.
“I used to be requested in a survey who I believed was attempting to kill me, however I actually do not know,” he mentioned, including that he believed his work across the farm murders made him a goal.
Though the murders of white farmers account for a small portion of South Africa’s excessive homicide charge, which overwhelmingly impacts black folks, the murders have change into a focus for right-wing activists at residence and overseas.
The US has admitted greater than 6,000 South Africans as refugees since final yr, in keeping with State Division information, and not too long ago raised the annual cap to 17,500 to permit extra white South Africans to enter the nation, regardless of a broader refugee program freeze.
Difficult the White Sufferer Narrative
South Africa considers this system to be a privileged immigration route for Afrikaners (primarily white South Africans descended from Dutch settlers) and disputes claims that they face systematic persecution.
“There is a very well-organized foyer in South Africa that emphasizes white victimhood, and that is actually inspired by Donald Trump,” mentioned Fanny du Toit, government director of the South African suppose tank the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.
Du Toit, a member of the group Africans for South Africa, which opposes this narrative, mentioned claims that white South Africans have been oppressed or harmful as a bunch weren’t supported by information.
In a nationally consultant survey carried out by the institute in 2022, about three in 4 white respondents mentioned they by no means or hardly ever felt unsafe strolling of their neighborhoods, and an analogous proportion mentioned their residing situations have been good. In distinction, solely one-third of black respondents mentioned their residing situations have been good.
Even inside Afrikaner politics, assist for immigration is proscribed.
Freedom Entrance Plus chief Corn Mulder advised Reuters that whereas he appreciated President Trump’s curiosity, he hoped the USA would assist South Africa’s Afrikaners as a result of it’s a minority who wish to go away South Africa.
Du Venage, who just isn’t an elected public consultant however is a part of the occasion’s inside group, mentioned he anticipated the transition to the USA to be troublesome and hoped to be positioned in a location with an analogous local weather to Cape City.
“The suggestions we have gotten is that there are a couple of individuals who have been very fortunate and have had plenty of assist and ended up in a superb place, however plenty of staff are actually struggling,” he mentioned.
