Trump Called It ‘White Genocide.’ Now the White People Are Flocking Home.
The president’s ravings about South Africa are comical. But their effects aren’t.
SINCE HIS FIRST TERM, DONALD TRUMP has insisted that the South African government is committing “genocide” against white South Africans, targeting them with violence and forcibly taking their land. Most infamously, Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office last year with a misleading video purporting to show mass burials of white famers. He has also made white South Africans the centerpiece of the U.S. “refugee” program.
Two recent stories punctuate the absurdity of these claims, which are categorically false and propagated by white supremacists in both South Africa and the United States. The bottom line is: if the South African government is trying to commit a white genocide, or otherwise make life unpleasant for white people, they really, really suck at it.
First, there is the news this week that a South African court has found far-left, black nationalist firebrand Julius Malema guilty of weapons crimes, stemming from a 2018 incident in which he fired an illegal semiautomatic weapon into the air at a political rally. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but he will remain free and allowed to continue serving in Parliament pending appeals.
Malema, who has made a career of exploiting racial tensions to build his Economic Freedom Fighters party, was featured in the Oval Office video leading a crowd in singing the (highly offensive) anti-apartheid anthem, “Kill the Boer.” South African officials tried in vain to explain to Trump that Malema, who was expelled from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party in 2012, was outside the mainstream of South African politics. Most notably, after the ANC failed to win a majority in the 2024 elections, the party chose to form an alliance with the center-right (and majority white) Democratic Alliance rather than invite Malema’s party into its government.
In addition, South Africa’s Equality Courts, which hear matters relating to racial discrimination and do not issue criminal convictions, found Malema guilty of hate speech in August 2025 for remarks he made at a 2022 rally: “No white man is going to beat me up,” he said, adding, “You must never be scared to kill. A revolution demands that at some point there must be killing.” This was his third appearance before the courts.
It remains to be seen whether Malema will actually spend time in jail, and his party may be able to use his perceived victimhood to build support. But Malema himself is politically wounded. If his conviction survives on appeal, he will be barred from holding any elected office for five years (would that the United States had such a statute).
Call me crazy, but it seems that if the South African government aimed to commit white genocide, jailing and politically sidelining South Africa’s leading anti-white rabble-rouser wouldn’t be the best strategy. But maybe South African policymakers have attended the Trump school of ten-dimensional chess.
NEXT, LET’S CHECK IN ON THE WHITE South African “refugees” supposedly fleeing from genocide. It seems that a significant number are interested in returning home from their exile, including many in the United States. The South African government says that 12,000 South African expatriates have used a new portal over the last few months to verify their citizenship, and 1,000 have reclaimed South African citizenship. At least one South African recruitment firm has reported a 70 percent increase over the last six months in inquires from expatriates looking to return.
Among their reasons for moving back home, those returning from America cite the cost of living, proximity to family, the overall quality of life, and the weather (personally, I have always found American weather extremely oppressive, but I wouldn’t think it could compel people to run toward a genocide). Some have also cited—wait for it—fear of violence and political instability. Others mentioned anti-white discrimination—in America.
Two white South Africans who moved to the United States in the past year, but will be heading home soon, are reality stars Melany and Peet Viljoen. They appeared in The Real Housewives of Pretoria and owned several businesses there. But when they ran into some legal trouble, they decided to make a fresh start in the land of opportunity under the pro-Afrikaner administration of their favorite world leader, Donald Trump.
To be fair, they didn’t come as refugees, presumably because even the Trump administration’s speedy processing and onion skin-thin vetting was too onerous. In fact, they didn’t even immigrate legally. They arrived in May 2025 on tourist visas—which allow stays of up to six months at a time—and settled in Florida.
Their undocumented status didn’t stop them from constantly posting on social media urging South Africans to come to America as refugees, amplifying the white genocide narrative, enthusing about their amazing new American life, and lavishly praising President Trump.
Despite being disbarred in South Africa, Mr. Viljoen said he was studying for the Florida bar exam. “I am going to become the richest attorney in the United States,” he posted on Facebook. “I already have the prettiest wife. I drive some of the nicest cars. The US is good to us.” (Viljoen’s wife is, of course, South African, and presumably not one of the many luxuries fellow immigrants could expect to enjoy.) He said they did not worry about their immigration status. “We do not have to explain to anyone if we have green cards or yellow cards. I regularly speak to Trump’s people, and they all know about white genocide.”
As it turns out, it wasn’t “Trump’s people” who detained them—that would be the Palm Beach County Police. They were arrested in March for stealing thousands of dollars of groceries from Publix. Yes, that’s right, groceries. Although they have pleaded not guilty, Mrs. Viljoen claimed in her affidavit that the couple was in “survival mode” because they were unable to work legally in the United States. Apparently white South African reality stars aren’t as resourceful as the vast majority of undocumented immigrants here, who manage to not only feed themselves without shoplifting, but also to pay together around $90 billion in taxes annually.
The Viljoens are now in ICE custody and will soon be deported back to South Africa to face the white genocide.
While Pretoria almost certainly doesn’t want the Viljoens back, the government is encouraging other returnees, with legal reforms and streamlined processes, which is a very weird move if your goal is cleansing your country of white people.
ALL OF THIS WOULD BE FAR MORE AMUSING if Trump’s “white genocide” lies didn’t have tragic, real-world implications for the world’s 117 million actual refugees and other forcibly displaced people. Before Trump, the United States led the world in refugee resettlement, and we have economically benefited from our generosity.
But the Trump administration has all but shut down refugee admissions—except for white South Africans. During the last year of the Biden administration, the United States admitted 125,000 refugees from 85 countries. This fiscal year, the United States has thus far admitted just under 4,500 refugees, and all but three of them have been white South Africans.
In addition, refugees already here have been targeted by ICE and CBP. Authorities in New York have determined a vision-impaired refugee from Myanmar was the victim of a homicide after CBP officials dropped him off in the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter.
The plight of refugees is nothing new to those who have lived in and studied Africa. I have visited Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya, where some Somalis have been waiting for resettlement or return for decades. Conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, and other African nations have overwhelmed resources on the continent, especially with the closure of USAID. Trump’s foolish Iran war is already making things worse, causing food and fuel shortages in places that can least afford them.
I have a friend who runs a refugee assistance organization in Uganda, a major refugee receiving nation. Her organization helped a group of refugees from eastern DRC, where war has raged for decades (and still does, despite Trump’s claim to have negotiated peace), with their years-long processing for U.S. resettlement. When Trump took office, they were approved, fully vetted, and weeks away from departure.
Instead, their visas were cancelled. Weeks later, they watched the first group of white South Africans welcomed in Washington by the deputy secretary of state.
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