The South African government has sharply criticised the United States for introducing a refugee policy that gives special consideration to white Afrikaners, describing the move as “misguided” and rooted in “discredited claims of a so-called white genocide.”

In a statement, Pretoria dismissed the justification for the new category, saying there is no credible evidence that white South Africans are being systematically targeted or persecuted. The government pointed to an open letter released earlier in the week by a group of prominent Afrikaners who also rejected the idea of white victimhood, branding the U.S. plan “racist and politically motivated.”

“The limited number of white South African Afrikaners signing up to relocate to the U.S. is clear evidence that they are not being persecuted,” the statement read.

The backlash follows the Trump administration’s announcement of a record-low annual refugee cap of 7,500, while creating a special category for white Afrikaner applicants.

Officials in Pretoria accused Washington of weaponising misinformation for political purposes, noting that South Africa’s latest crime statistics show no evidence that white citizens face higher rates of violent crime than any other group.

“Violent crime affects all South Africans,” the government said. “Using it to justify racialised asylum policies is deeply irresponsible.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration believes the controversy is tied to Trump’s opposition to South Africa’s land reform policy, which allows limited land seizures without compensation. Earlier in the year, Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners, who are largely descendants of Dutch and French settlers, shortly after the reform bill was signed into law.

The tension between both nations worsened after South Africa’s former ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled for accusing Trump of “mobilising supremacism” and “projecting white victimhood as a dog whistle.”

During a May 2025 Oval Office meeting, Trump reportedly confronted Ramaphosa, alleging that white farmers were being “killed and persecuted.” Reports later revealed that Trump held up a photo he claimed showed murdered white South Africans — an image Reuters confirmed was actually taken years earlier in the Democratic Republic of Congo, unrelated to South Africa.

Washington has declined to comment on the error, though further investigation revealed that a White House presentation also included misleading footage, originally from a 2020 protest, not evidence of recent killings.

In its closing remarks, the South African government said the persistent use of these distortions proves that the narrative of white persecution is a “manufactured myth.” It reaffirmed its commitment to protecting all citizens equally and urged the United States to “avoid importing falsehoods into its foreign policy decisions.”