The Trump administration on Friday intensified its dispute with South Africa, saying no U.S. government official will attend the G20 Summit in Johannesburg in protest of what it describes as state-backed discrimination against White Afrikaners.
‘The lives and property of Afrikaners have been endangered by politicians who incite race-based violence against them, threaten to confiscate their farms without compensation, and prop up a corrupt race-based scoring system that discriminates against Afrikaners in employment,’ State Department Deputy Principal spokesperson Tommy Piggott told Fox News Digital.
‘South Africa must immediately end all government-sponsored discrimination against Afrikaners and condemn those who seek to ignite racial violence against them.’
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that it’s a ‘total disgrace’ the G20, scheduled for Nov. 22 to Nov. 23, will be held in South Africa.
‘Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated,’ the president said. ‘No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida!’
Afrikaners have faced increasing hostility from some politicians who have called for violence against them and the threat of land confiscation.
South Africa’s Expropriation Act of 2024 allows the government to take land for public use, including in some cases without compensation — a policy the government says is aimed at addressing racial inequities in ownership, but one that critics warn could unfairly affect White Afrikaner farmers.
Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House in May, pressing him on ‘White genocide’ in the country. Ramaphosa vehemently denied the claims.
‘There is just no genocide in South Africa,’ he said. ‘We cannot equate what is alleged to be genocide to what we went through in the struggle because people were killed because of the oppression that was taking place in our country. So you cannot equate that.’
Trump played a video in the Oval Office of white crosses along a highway that he said depicted burial sites of White farmers.
‘Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?’ Ramaphosa asked. ‘I’d like to know where that is because this I’ve never seen.’
A senior State Department official told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration set a refugee cap for fiscal year 2026 of 7,500, with a majority of the spots reserved for Afrikaners fleeing what it describes as government-sponsored race-based discrimination in South Africa.