By AFP - Agence France Presse
'Ridiculous and lame': South Africans mock Trump's proposals
Hillary ORINDE
On the streets of Johannesburg's student district, US President Donald Trump's proposal to accept white Afrikaners as refugees was called “ridiculous” and “lame” by South Africans of all races.
On Friday, Trump cut aid to South Africa and claimed, without evidence, that the Pretoria government is seizing white-owned land and persecuting Afrikaners, descendants of European settlers.
South African billionaire Elon Musk, the richest person in the world and Trump's right-hand man, has in the past echoed far-right conspiracy theories about a “white genocide” in the country.
“Trump doesn't know anything about this. I feel like Elon Musk is pushing him back and saying, 'There's something there. Go and see',” said Lulusuku Mahlangu.
“It's greed,” said the electrical engineering student.
“When you have too much power, you think you can control everyone.”
Many expressed their indignation and bewilderment that whites could be considered victims in South Africa.
The apartheid, white supremacist government, headed by an Afrikaner nationalist party, ruled the country until 1994.
Whites still own two-thirds of the farmland and earn on average three times as much as black South Africans.
“I find it funny because I live here and I don't see this kind of persecution at all,” said Lwandle Yende, 34.
- 'On the edge of ridiculous'
“It's ridiculous, funny and strange,” said Yende, a telecommunications specialist with black and brown dreadlocks and a curtain-shaped beard on his chin.
“I think we've been quite complacent about everything that's happened in our past,” said Yende, adding: ”There's no such thing as apartheid 2.0.”
Trump's criticism centers on a new law that allows the South African government, in certain particular circumstances, to confiscate property without payment if it is deemed to be in the public interest.
The law mainly clarifies an existing legal framework. Legal experts have stressed that it does not give the government any new powers.
Trump's offer to accept Afrikaners as refugees caught many off guard, including right-wing white lobby groups.
The suggestion “has some racist overtones,” said Reabetswe Mosue, 22.
“It's uninformed and almost ridiculous.”
Trump's executive order suspends all US funding to South Africa, including a major contribution to the country's HIV program.
“America betrayed us by bringing him back,” 56-year-old pastor Israel Ntshangase said of Trump.
“He blew it with Africa and he's doing it again,” he said, warning that Trump's policies ‘will haunt him’.
- Life in America 'not cheap'
The South African government sought to allay fears about the consequences of Trump's resettlement proposal, saying it was “ironic” that it came from a nation that is embarking on a deportation program.
“Who wants to leave this beautiful country?” asked Yende as he adjusted his designer sunglasses, adding that his white friends found the proposal laughable.
Trump's plan seems to offer a lot to Afrikaners, but it may turn out to be too little, said Matthew Butler, a 62-year-old tax and insurance specialist.
“America is not cheap,” the calm-tempered white man told AFP. ”Are you going to have a job? How are you going to make a living?”
However, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the United States has registered an increase in resettlement applications, estimating that 50,000 people may consider leaving South Africa.
None of them should be prevented from leaving, opined University of the Witwatersrand lecturer Hannah Maja, on her way to shop for a staff party.
“Let them do what they want so they can get the fresh air they need and want,” quipped 28-year-old Hannah Maja.
“I think there's something interesting when white people get together and decide to fight. Because at the end of the day, black people continue to suffer,” she said.
However, this appeal was not heard by film student Clayton Ndlovu.
“We need the Afrikaners. As much as we don't understand each other, we need them,” said the 22-year-old.
“Trump is just trying to scare people.”
ho/gs/gil
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