Nelson Mandela’s great-grandson has called for criminal charges to be brought against the South African white Afrikaans people accepted into America by President Donald Trump as refugees.
Mayibuye Melisizwe Mandela said the Afrikaans group is part of a “coordinated effort to destabilize our country and incite international hostility” and is considering opening a case against them.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. State Department, via online contact form, for a response.
Why It Matters
Nelson Mandela was the first democratic president of South Africa, elected in 1994 after leading the struggle against apartheid—a white-minority rule regime which enforced a state-sanctioned system of white supremacist racial segregation with violent laws, police brutality, mass disenfranchisement and forced removals.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for being a huge part of making the transition from apartheid into democracy peaceful, at a time when many in South Africa feared civil war, and has long considered an international hero.
Mayibuye Melisizwe Mandela, 31, has grown increasingly critical of his great-grandfather’s party, the African National Congress (ANC), over the years calling it a “barrier to true freedom.”
Earlier this year, he joined the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a party headed by Julius Malema—the man seen leading chants of “kill the boer, kill the farmer” in the videos Trump played during his White House clash with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
What To Know
More than 60 people have traveled to the United States as part of the Afrikaner resettlement program—the first group of 49 arrived on a state-chartered plan in May, followed by other, smaller groups on commercial flights.
Mayibuye Melisizwe Mandela said these people should be prosecuted under South African law.
“This is not just a matter of misinformation—it is a coordinated effort to destabilize our country and incite international hostility,” he said, according to the South African media outlet the Independent Online (IOL).
He also called on Afriforum and Solidarity, groups that support Afrikaner civil and worker rights, to be held accountable for their roles in “orchestrating and promoting this false narrative.”
Solidarity’s Jaco Kleynhans called Mayibuye Melisizwe Mandela’s allegations “completely unfounded and just another attempt to shift the focus away from South Africa’s huge problems.”
“The U.S. government has every right to grant refugee status to citizens of another country that it considers to be experiencing serious oppression or persecution,” Kleynhans said.
Newsweek has contacted Afriforum, via email, for comment.
What People Are Saying
Jaco Kleynhans said: “Instead of attacking these people or the organizations they represent, we need to have a serious conversation in South Africa about the extent of absolute racial discrimination against minorities, the levels of violent crime that are occurring in our country, and what is needed to address these and other problems.”
South Africa’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation has previously said in a statement about the issue: “It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under Apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again.”
White House deputy chief of staff and Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller previously defended the program to reporters, saying: “What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created. This is race-based persecution. The refugee program is not intended as a solution for global poverty, and historically, it has been used that way.”
What Happens Next
It is unclear whether criminal charges will be brought against the Afrikaners in America — Newsweek has contacted South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, via email, for comment.
More Afrikaners are expected to travel the United States, with nearly 50,000 South Africans inquiring about the resettlement program, the U.S. State Department told The New York Times.
Katia Beeden, a spokesperson for Amerikaners, a group that supports “disenfranchised South Africans seeking a new future in the United States,” told Newsweek: “The resettlement program is being scaled and the numbers will increase radically within the next three months.”
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