The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has initiated a sharp and critical assault on the South African government, accusing its officials of egregious harassment and doxxing of staff members who are involved in assisting white Afrikaners in their relocation efforts.
On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made these serious allegations in a statement, a day following South Africa’s expulsion of seven Kenyan nationals. These individuals had entered the country with U.S. support in order to facilitate the processing of Afrikaner relocations.
The South African government has stated that these individuals were in the country on tourist visas, which means they cannot work and raises questions about what they were doing.
Rubio expressed serious concerns, saying that U.S. citizens had been briefly detained during the unrest, an action that Washington strongly condemns. He highlighted that some personal information about U.S. officials was leaked, which is a big problem and might put them in danger. Rubio said that if South Africa doesn’t punish the people who did this, it could hurt their relationship with the U.S.
The South African government said that no U.S. officials were arrested during the raid. They also mentioned that hiring people in the U.S. without the right papers is a serious issue.
South African President Denied Accusations
For months, the Trump administration has pressured South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government. It has accused Ramaphosa’s administration of allowing the persecution of white Afrikaner farmers in a country dealing with complicated land ownership issues. These claims have mostly spread within far-right groups but are now getting more attention.
Ramaphosa has strongly denied these accusations. Key elected officials, including leaders from the Afrikaner community, have called the allegations harmful misinformation. This was discussed at a lively gathering at the White House in May.
The Trump administration has continued to facilitate the relocation of members of the Afrikaner community through the U.S. refugee program, even as it has drastically curtailed refugee admissions for nearly all other nationalities. This reduction has plummeted to a historic low of 7,500 for 2026, a move that various human rights organizations have fiercely criticized as blatant racism.
Additionally, the Trump administration has escalated tensions by expelling South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S., boycotting the G20 summit held in Johannesburg, and excluding South Africa from participating in next year’s event in Miami, further straining diplomatic relations between the two nations.
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