South Africa: Trump calls attention to violence against farmers
President Trump was seen on multiple national media outlets meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and playing video footage of South African opposition leaders calling for violence against white farmers.
Trump accused the black majority government of not doing enough to protect white minority farmers.
Ramaphosa told Trump, “our government is completely against what he was saying,” referencing the video.
According to NBC, the Trump administration this month fast-tracked 59 white Afrikaaner refugees to become American citizens. A fact that has left some angry over other refugees being denied access to this country.
Recent history
An executive order signed February 7, 2025, by President Donald Trump stirred the emotive embers of South Africa’s long-smoldering “farmer killings.” Taking aim at the recently enacted Expropriation Act of 2024 signed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in January, Mr. Trump terminated international aid to the country and instructed U.S. immigration officials to prioritize resettlement of those “racially disfavored landowners” wishing to immigrate.
In part, his order states that the Expropriation Act is designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and that hateful rhetoric and government actions are fueling violence against the country’s White farmers. Colloquially known as Afrikaners, White South African farmers are largely descendants of European settlers. (See “History of White Settlement and Farming in South Africa.”)
Akin to eminent domain, the 2024 Act was designed to ensure land acquisitions are made with proper legal oversight. Replacing another act from 1975, it makes no racial distinction with respect to property seizures.
South African government leaders insist private property rights remain protected, pointing to a misinformation campaign by minority Whites who are losing privilege. The country’s foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, criticized Mr. Trump’s actions, saying every country has expropriation laws to deal with land issues. Lamola considers the action interference with a sovereign state while pushing a racist agenda.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton extended a similar invitation to South Africans in 2018. White farmers first fled to Australia from Zimbabwe in 1980 following the election of a Black majority government there. Immigration to Australia from South Africa accelerated in the 1990s following Nelson Madella’s election. As of June 2022, 206,730 South African-born people were living in Australia.
South Africa’s most recent census in 2022 reported Whites at 7.3 percent of 63 million citizens, Blacks 81.4, and Colored 8.2. For decades, White Afrikaner farmers, family members and employees (including Blacks) have been targeted by violent attacks. Smallholders, an African term for owners of ranchettes and small acreages, also fall prey to what the government generalizes as attacks for financial or economic gain.
The government has condemned the attacks, standing firm that there is no evidence of any widespread targeting of Whites. While they acknowledge Whites are being killed, they counter that South Africa’s extremely high violent crime rates affect all races, that farm murders are dwarfed by the sheer scale of violent crime. According to the latest figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, South Africa’s homicide rate in 2022-2023 was 45 per 100,000 people. That compares to 6.3 in the U.S.
Crime and violence analyst Dr. Chris de Kock agrees that farm murders are in line with general population numbers. He works with AfricaScope in conducting crime perception surveys and the analysis of crime statistics.
AfriForum, a non-profit civil rights organization focusing on the interests of Afrikaners, claims authorities turn a blind eye to the violence, and that whites are being singled out. AfriForum recently walked back claims of “White genocide” in South Africa. Clarifying there is no genocide like that which occurred in Rwanda, it maintains there is nonetheless a serious problem of people being killed on farms.
AgriSA, an agricultural organization that represents farmers, advocating for their rights and interests, has stated that rumors linking farm murders to the signing of the Expropriation Act are baseless and irresponsible. The topic has been characterized as a myth.
Those who would brand farmer killings as mythological are unfamiliar with the results of a 1999 research project, choose to ignore them, or believe the country has moved past them. In 1998, then president Nelson Mandela convened a rural safety summit addressing crime against farmers, calling it a cause of great concern to both the farming community and the country. A resolution called for research on the causes and motives and the effectiveness of a rural protection plan.
In an earlier TSLN story, Bennie Kruger, who now farms in South Dakota, said farmer violence is real. Kruger left South Africa 19 years ago to escape the violence toward white farmers. In South Africa he and his family raised sunflowers, corn, soybeans and sorghum. “Things aren’t looking good. The last 10-15 years have really been getting out of hand. They are killing a lot of farmers,” Kruger says. “The attacks are barbaric but you don’t hear that on the news. The sad part is everyone is turning their heads away. The farm where I grew up now has a six-foot electric fence around the place, burglar bars on the windows and vicious dogs. People are fearing for their lives. Three of my closest relatives moved to Australia. That’s why I left; I want to farm and raise a family and didn’t want to have to do it in that environment,” he told TSLN.
“The worst of the matter is not the fact that South African farmers are being attacked and killed, but rather the disproportionate numbers that are involved, the extreme levels of brutality that often accompany these crimes, and the fact that the South African government has largely been in denial about the problem since 2007,” notes Lorraine Claassen of AfriForum, a civil rights organization operating in South Africa with particular focus on the promotion and protection of the rights of minority communities.
According to detailed report from AfriForum, the most common forms of physical torture are beatings, stabbings, burning victims with boiling water, molten plastic and hot clothing irons. It also includes instances of detainment against the victims’ will, and assaults on the sexual integrity of the person.
“Some farmers are even slaughtered like animals or dragged behind their own vehicles (they are tied to the vehicle with a rope and dragged for vast distances),” the report noted. Psychological torture during farm attacks includes belittling, threats, attempted and threatened assault and threats to other family members. The horror is the brutality of the crimes; it’s not simply a few hoodlums who break in and make off with jewelry, electronics and a vehicle.
Noting farmers are a soft target because of their isolation, Mandela urged those concerned to work together to combat crime. In a country slightly less than twice the size of Texas, he championed civilian security cells much like rural volunteer fire departments. Research was conducted in selected parts of the three provinces most affected by violence.
Released in 2000, the report stated that between January 1997 and December 1999, some 361 people were murdered in 2,030 separate attacks. Attacks were categorized under murder, attempted murder, rape, assault with the intent to do bodily harm, robbery, armed robbery, vehicle hijacking, malicious damage to property, and arson.
Key takeaways included:
• Irrefutable evidence that motive for approximately 99% of attacks was common criminality, robbery being prime. Firearms, cash or vehicles were the most sought-after items.
• Most attacks (56%) occurred inside houses; 18% occurred outside houses; 16% in farm stalls or shops; and 9% at the gate or on the road.
• Virtually all (91%) attacks involved three or more assailants.
Culprits appeared to have few qualms about injuring or killing victims. Violence was deployed to access safes, leave the victim incapable of signaling for help, or to overpower the victim.
Statistics on farm killings since this report are hard to come by. The South African Police Service (SAPS) stopped recording homicide statistics on farm murders in 2007, merging them with all homicides. Those wishing to track the trend must rely instead on data from the Transvaal Agricultural Union of SA (TAUSA). Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies believes statistics provided by TAUSA significantly under report the number of violent attacks on farmers and smallholdings.
Data from the SAPS from 2019-2022 reveals low arrest and conviction rates in what can be extrapolated as farm attack and murder cases. In a country where Whites earn more than Blacks, and unemployment is 32.9 percent, more than 95 percent of violent crimes remain unsolved. Low conviction rates exacerbate fear among farming communities.
While it’s impossible to calculate exact numbers, Afrikaner farmers have been dying in their homes and on their farms and ranches for decades. In areas where killings are most prevalent, some have resigned themselves to an “it’s not if, but when” attitude.
Despite these challenges, not every white farmer wants to leave. Some remain committed to their operations and are seeking assurances that attention be paid to violent crime. Their safety and livelihood impact not only them but South Africa’s agricultural production, foreign relations and economy.
By default, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA ended up acting as an informal clearinghouse for those interested in Mr. Trump’s invitation. They reported approximately 72,000 South Africans had expressed interest in relocating to the U.S. Official refugee applications must go through the U.S. government.
South African Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni dismissed the number as false. Ntshavheni said, “According to data from AgriSA, StatsSA, and the Department of Agriculture, South Africa only has just over 41,000 commercial farmers, and therefore there cannot be 72,000 commercial farmers leaving South Africa.”
South African Farm Worker Appreciates U.S. Opportunities
Charles Roux was 21 when he left his family’s farm and trucking business in Prieska, Northern Cape Province, South Africa, on an H-2A agricultural worker visa and came to Underwood, N.D. He turns 40 this year, having lived nearly half of his life in the U.S.
Back in 2006, affirmative action had been in place for three years and provincial unemployment was 23 percent. Roux said as a white male, chances of getting a job were, and are, small. It is common for young men to leave for the U.S., England, and Australia to find work. Current unemployment figures for South Africa as a whole stands at 31.9 percent.
Roux departed the largest and most sparsely populated South African province – with an average rainfall of 8 inches – seeking economic opportunity and personal safety. “The southern tip of South Africa is a hard place to make a living,” he said. “It’s like the desert of Arizona; it’s not good land. There’s not a lot of profit.”
Acknowledging he had more opportunities than many others if he strayed, there was the crime.
“I basically grew up in jail,” Roux said recalling the precautions the family took to protect themselves from the ever-present violence and theft. “We had a 5-ft. high barbed wire fence around the house, a security system, guard dogs, bars on the windows, and we barred the doors.”
Roux said he “freaked out” shortly after arriving in North Dakota when he and his boss stopped for lunch at a local café. It was cold and the pickup was left running. “In South Africa, even with locks on the manual transmission and wheels, vehicles can be gone in five minutes while you run into a store.
“I joke with my wife and tell her that I have been Americanized,” Roux said. “I’ve been spoiled living here. It would be culture shock to go back now. It’s a beautiful place. I used to think I might retire there. But, no, I don’t feel that way any longer.”
Roux worked on a farm until he got married, then he hired on in the oil field. He was laid off during Covid. Since 2020, he’s been employed as a service technician at a John Deere dealership in Beach, N.D. He and his wife have three children. Some of his friends found work in the state as well. Besides performing seasonal farm labor, one runs a custom spraying business, and one keeps bees.
Asked how he was received when he arrived in North Dakota, Roux said most people were open and friendly towards him. “Some, but not many, didn’t like South Africans coming here to work. They felt we were taking jobs away from Americans, Roux said. “It’s so hard to make a living in South Africa. Here, there is opportunity. You just have to wake up.”
President Trump’s messaging has intensified the discord between whites and blacks, heightening animosities over affirmative action. Those who were previously disadvantaged are now given preferential access to jobs for which they are qualified, or businesses they wish to open.
Riaan Roux, a relative of Charles’ based in Klerksdorp, North West Province, South Africa, said the social environment for most whites literally went south after Trump’s comments. “The hatred is now easily and freely expressed. It is now common to see comments in posts stating, “Just go to Trump; go to America,” as if whites are being pushed out of the country.”
Both Charles and Riaan feel ending apartheid was right for the country. Both are dismayed by how the government now treats its minority citizens. Riaan said there are those who would like to leave, but also those who want to stay and make a go in the country of their birth.
Newspaper and television coverage varies between encouraging white farmers to go and hoping they won’t. Because Whites historically owned commercial farms, they have the knowledge and experience to nurture crops and livestock. One black South African summed it up saying, as much as we don’t get along with the (white) Afrikaans, we actually do need them.
Whatever happens with expedited citizenship for white South African farmers, Charles Roux said coming to the U.S. was the right choice for him. “It’s hard not to see your family. But I’m married. I’ve integrated into the community, and there are opportunities here for my kids.”
