South Africa’s new ambassador to Washington has dismissed claims that there is a genocide against white Afrikaners in South Africa.
Roelf Meyer, who is himself a born Afrikaner, told the BBC that the notion of a mass attack on the white Afrikaner minority does not exist.
Meyer said his identity as an Afrikaner gives him the legitimacy to challenge the claim being made by US President Donald Trump.
“Is he talking about us?” Meyer said he remembers thinking when he first heard President Trump make the allegation.
His response was blunt. The notion of a mass attack on the Afrikaner minority does not exist, he told the BBC.
Meyer was one of the chief mediators who helped negotiate an end to white-minority rule known as apartheid in South Africa in the 1990s. He represented the National Party at the time, while President Cyril Ramaphosa was a key negotiator for the African National Congress.
He was appointed ambassador to the US in April 2026 after diplomatic relations between the US and South Africa collapsed. He presented his credentials to Trump at the White House in May 2026.
In the interview, Meyer said the facts about violence in South Africa have been misrepresented. He said he never got a clear answer about where the misdirection of information was coming from.
He said he would like to have a direct conversation with Trump about the reality on the ground.
Last year, Trump accused South Africa of white genocide during a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House and launched a refugee pathway for Afrikaners.
Since then, nearly 13,000 refugees have been admitted to the United States under that programme. All but three were South African.
Last week, the Trump administration announced visa restrictions for those South Africans it said were responsible for race-based discrimination against white people. It also warned of further punitive actions if South African leaders did not address the issue.
Police data shows the majority of victims of crime in South Africa, including on farms, are black. Farm violence, often motivated by robberies, remains a concern but represents a smaller number of homicides in the country.
While no politician disputes that crime is a major problem in South Africa, many experts say it does not qualify as persecution.
Claims of genocide against white South Africans have been discredited by every political party in South Africa, including those representing Afrikaners.
An Afrikaner lobby group is holding a vigil on Saturday with thousands of white crosses on Washington’s National Mall to commemorate what it says are victims of farm attacks.
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