AfriForum and Ernst Roets clash with critics over 'white persecution' narrative
Ernst Roets, executive director of Lex Libertas, has faced intense criticism for linking the White House’s refugee policy which grants an exception for Afrikaners citing alleged persecution to South Africa’s domestic crises.
Image: Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency (ANA)
Ernst Roets, executive director of the South African think tank Lex Libertas, has come under mounting scrutiny. He claims that the White House's decision to pause global refugee admissions, while exempting Afrikaners due to alleged persecution, highlights South Africa's worsening crises. Critics have challenged both the basis and implications of his claims.
Roets said Washington's move underscored crumbling conditions that could no longer be dismissed.
"The White House's announcement that the United States will pause refugee admissions globally, with an exception for Afrikaners citing persecution in South Africa, highlights once again the deep crises facing the country."
Roets argued that the root causes of such international alarm cannot be resolved through political spin. "This development reflects issues that cannot be resolved through denial, scapegoating or political messaging," he said.
His remarks come amid broader controversy over the state of relations between Pretoria and Washington. In November, AfriForum, an organisation Roets was previously a part of rejected suggestions that his organisation is to blame for the diplomatic deterioration, arguing that the civil-rights group is being cast as a convenient scapegoat as public exchanges intensify.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, AfriForum's chief executive Kallie Kriel stressed that AfriForum had never characterised the situation in South Africa as a 'genocide' directed at Afrikaners, insisting the narrative had been falsely attributed to them.
He said that multiple media outlets, which had made such claims, were compelled to apologise after AfriForum approached the Press Ombud. Kriel maintained that while the chant 'Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer' constitutes what he described as a genocidal incitement.
"We never said there is genocide. All we are asking from the government and the president is to condemn this call, acknowledge the fact that we are seeing tortures that accompany these murders, and declare it a priority crime," he said.
Political analyst Siyabonga Ntombela said that AfriForum is one of the organisations that are responsible for planting and propagating the ideas into Trump's mind.
"Although they may have not used the word 'genocide', but they insinuated there is, which amounts to saying it. Also, look at the timing between their visit to the US and the spend of this news.
"I believe these organisations said this to someone in President Trump's administration who enjoys the president's trust and ear, and that individual exaggerated everything. It is now difficult to convince Trump otherwise without that person flipping the script," said Ntombela.
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