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US President Donald Trump.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
- The FW de Klerk Foundation says South Africans cannot stand by while repeated lies are being peddled about the country.
- US President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been spreading disinformation about a so-called genocide in South Africa.
- Trump recently announced that the US wouldn’t send a representative to the upcoming G20 meeting in SA.
The FW de Klerk Foundation has come out to bat for South Africa after US President Donald Trump reignited his lies about there being a genocide of Afrikaners in South Africa.
The foundation’s statement follows Trump repeating his lies and taking fresh pot shots at South Africa.
He recently announced on social media that no US official would be present at the G20 summit in Johannesburg this month.
The foundation’s executive director Christo van der Rheede said South Africans could not stand by while repeated lies were being peddled about the country.
“It is now very important for all South African citizens to unite and refute the statements by President Donald Trump, his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and others, that Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. This is simply not true!”
Van der Rheede added that this did not mean that South Africans accepted the current state of affairs in the country.
“In fact, all South Africans across racial lines must unite and raise their discontent with the high levels of corruption, violence, lack of service delivery, slow economic growth and many other challenges we face as a nation,” he said.
“And exercise their constitutional right to elect credible and caring representatives to take up public office at local government level during the up and coming elections.”
Van der Rheede added:
“Yes, the ANC as the sole governing party before the formation of the GNU, must be exposed and held accountable. However, it is simply not true that [there is] persecution of white people in general and Afrikaners in particular.”
He said South Africans had to point out the risks the United States faced should it not reconsider its position to boycott the G20 meeting.
On Friday night, on the social media platform he owns, Truth Social, Trump posted that it was a “total disgrace” that the G20 summit would 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. No US government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida!”
Previously, the US had indicated that its vice-president, JD Vance, would attend the summit in Trump’s place, but this is reportedly no longer the case.
On Saturday, Rubio took to X and continued with the lies about Afrikaners in South Africa.
READ | Trump slams ‘total disgrace’ of G20 in SA, bars any US officials from attending
“Afrikaners have been continuously subjected to violent racial discrimination by the South African government. I applaud @POTUS’s [Trump’s] decision to not waste taxpayer dollars sending our diplomats to the G20 while this heinous violence continues,” he posted.
Van der Rheede said the role of the G20 in uniting the world was critical, and that it would be very negative for the US and its business interests in South Africa if it continued to base its reasons for staying away on falsehoods.
“Importantly though, is the call to the GNU to stay united and focused on ensuring that South Africa remains committed to realising the aspirations embedded in the constitution and its role in advancing democracy in South Africa,” he added.
“Creating a safe, prosperous and peaceful country for all who live in it and creating a conducive environment for economic growth based on constitutional principles of non-racialism, non-sexism, dignity, equality and human rights, should be the blueprint on taking South Africa forward.”
Van Rheede said those responsible for corruption and destroying critical state capacity could never be regarded as the face and voice of South Africa.
He added:
“Hence, punishing South Africa as a whole can never be justified.”
“The people of South Africa, despite the oppression, crude discrimination and land dispossession they endured under the Apartheid system, are forgiving, peace-loving, considerate people and remain loyal to the constitutional democracy that was founded three decades ago.”
He said the formation of the GNU, which consists of 10 political parties, attested to that.
“The falsehoods of persecution and discrimination may destroy that goodwill because of mistrust, polarisation and hostility caused by it. This neither the US nor South Africa can afford.”
The South African Government wishes to state, for the record, that the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution, is not substantiated by fact. Read more: https://t.co/8xvWIt7k5e…
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) November 10, 2025Meanwhile, over the weekend, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation had to again come out and dispute Trump’s lies.
“The South African government wishes to state, for the record, that the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution is not substantiated by fact,” read the statement from Chrispin Phiri, the spokesperson for International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola. He added that South Africa looked forward to hosting a successful G20 meeting.
