'White supremacists in suits and ties': the rightwing Afrikaner group in Trump's ear

[milestogo]

Donald Trump’s offer of political asylum to South Africa’s white minority, just days after blocking genuine refugees from travelling to the US, followed years of campaigning by an Afrikaner group that has promoted “white genocide” conspiracy theories while also lobbying on behalf of Elon Musk’s business interests.

Last week, Trump issued an executive order that misrepresented a new South African law, the Expropriation Act, as a racist move to persecute white Afrikaners by seizing their farms without compensation. The law is intended to address deep inequalities as the result of apartheid and colonial legislation that resulted in the white minority, who make up just 7% of South Africa’s population, still owning more than 70% of agricultural land more than three decades after the end of the apartheid system imposed by the Afrikaner-dominated government. It permits expropriation in exceptional circumstances, such as abandoned land, but generally requires “just and equitable” compensation.

That did not stop Trump from falsely claiming: “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.” The president’s order came after years of lobbying by an Afrikaner rights groups, AfriForum, which caught Trump’s attention during his first term by claiming that white farmers in South Africa were being murdered for political ends and to seize their land. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) civil rights organisation has described AfriForum’s leaders as white supremacists in suits and ties. Musk, who was raised in apartheid South Africa and is now a member of Trump’s inner circle as head of the “department of government efficiency”, has echoed claims portraying Afrikaner farmers as victims of racist murders and suggesting that a genocide against whites is imminent. However, the tech billionaire appears to be leveraging that false narrative to challenge affirmative action laws that conflict with attempts to sell his Starlink satellite network in South Africa.

Musk has accused South Africa of “openly racist ownership laws” as he applied pressure on the government to exempt Starlink from regulations to uplift people of colour oppressed by apartheid by requiring major business deals to include Black investors. He has rejected a requirement that foreign investors in the country’s telecoms sector provide 30% of the equity in the South African part of the enterprise to Black-owned businesses. AfriForum is campaigning on Musk’s behalf by claiming that Starlink is being prevented from doing business in South Africa because it is “too white” and is subject to “strict race-based criteria”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/trump-musk-south-africa-afriforum

[milestogo]

1. Regarding unemployment in South Africa

As of the third quarter of 2024, South Africa's unemployment rate was 32.1%.

This was a decrease from 33.5% in the second quarter of 2024.

Unemployment rate by group

Youth unemployment: In the first quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate for people aged 15–34 was 45.5%.

Black/African: In Q4 2023, the unemployment rate for Black/African people was 36.1%.

White: In Q4 2023, the unemployment rate for White people was 8.5%.

There is a lot of racial conflict in South Africa and there is also great inequality.

[AloeVera]

2. Much of that inequality is tied to land ownership.

Blacks cannot escape poverty without some progress towards land justice. There has been very little progress on that front in 30 years. The new law is just a tiny step forward at long last.

[milestogo]

4. Musk and Trump are interpreting it as a threat to white men

who are at risk of being exterminated. Its absurd.

[AloeVera]

5. Another way to look at it is that they know it's not true.

But white priviledge must be maintained, right?

A lot of what they are doing is built on lies and fabrications. Probably all of it.

[C0RI0LANUS]

3. The difference in revolutions.

Wealth distribution and land reform in South Africa could not have been nearly as quick as in 1789 France or 1917 Russia.

France and Russia underwent seismic, abrupt economic-political upheavals, unforgiving in throwing out their respective ancien regimes and seizing the land and wealth of the oligarchs in orgies of blood and chaos. Both countries underwent war to suppress the deadenders who were supported by European powers.







South Africa on the other hand, underwent a political-social revolution, forgiving the previous racist ancien regime while remaining a member of the capitalist system. President Nelson Mandela asked white bureaucrats to stay after assuming power, and many did, including Afrikaaners. Some bloodshed erupted, but civil war and carnage were avoided. Mandela specifically kept whites in two critical positions to show the world the ANC wasn't a Trotskyite-type of regime: Intelligence and Finance. Then, he brought the country together.






Dr. Neil Bernard, the D/BOSS who worked behind the scenes in transitioning South Africa from apartheid, passed last month. He was a personal hero of mine.


The pace of land reforms and wealth distribution have been too slow in alleviating poverty for the bottom 95% because of local corruption and tribal politics (Xhosa versus Zulu, etc), but which countries have no corruption?

Scoring 180 countries around the world, the Corruption Perceptions Index is the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. South Africa has a score of 41 this year, with a change of 0 since last year, meaning it ranks 82 out of 180 countries.




Source:

https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2023/index/zaf