Ting Shen and Alfredo Zuniga / AFP
The South African government said it had taken note of the latest executive order by US President, Donald Trump, freezing aid to South Africa.
However, in a statement, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said it was of great concern that the foundational premise of this order lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognise South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid.
"We are concerned by what seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation.
"It is disappointing to observe that such narratives seem to have found favour among decision-makers in the United States of America," Dirco said.
Dirco said it was ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the US from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship.
"We reiterate that South Africa remains committed to finding diplomatic solutions to any misunderstandings or disputes," the statement said.
According to reports, Trump's executive order was in response to South Africa's "shocking disregard of its citizens" saying the government recently enacted the Land Expropriation bill to enable the government to "seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation".
It went on to say that the Act followed countless government policies "designed to designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavoured landowners".
The EFF said that the "real reason" Trump had taken this decision was because of South Africa's case against Israel at the ICC and not the "baseless misinformation about the confiscation of land".
"South Africa is being punished for supporting Palestinian people and condemning Israel for its genocide," the EFF said in its statement on X.
Meanwhile, the organisation, AfriForum said the Trump executive order was a "direct result of President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government’s irresponsible actions and policies".
CEO, Kallie Kril said they expressed "great appreciation for Trump and the US’s recognition of the injustice to which Afrikaners are subjected in South Africa", however, he said the civil rights organisation and its sister institutions in the Solidarity Movement remain committed to Afrikaners’ future at the southern tip of Africa.
He said Afriforum insists that "urgent solutions must therefore be found for the injustices committed by the South African government against Afrikaners and other cultural communities in the country".
The Good Party said on Saturday that Afriforum appears to be completely oblivious to the diplomatic storm they have created through a disinformation campaign that has no objective merit.
Spokesperson, Brett Herron, said Afriforum are unable however to name the “injustice” they claim South African Afrikaners are experiencing.
"What is apparent is that they do not accept that apartheid has ended, that democracy has brought changes to modern South Africa, and that our constitutional democracy is geared to undoing all of the pain, exclusion, and injustices that the crime against humanity inflicted on the majority.
"The reality is that 30 years into democracy, the white minority, of which Afriforum represents some, continues to live extremely privileged lives in comparison to the vast majority of South Africans," Herron said.
He said there has been no “confiscating land” and Afriforum is yet to provide evidence to the contrary.
"Their disinformation efforts have backfired and will hurt not only their members but the entire country. It is highly unlikely that white Afrikaans farmers will give up their land and lives of privilege to resettle in the USA as refugees.
"They will need to prove to the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) that they have been persecuted. There are rigorous interviews and background checks before being allowed to resettle in the USA as refugees," Herron said.
