What happened to ’n boer maak ’n plan?
We believe in ’n boer maak ’n plan, but ...
Since when was it about playing the persecution card?
It’s not a persecution card. One of the refugees was a victim of two farm attacks. In one his daughter died, in the other attack his wife died.
Do farm attacks make them victims of anti-Afrikaner persecution, or crime, like the rest of the country?
No other crime is encouraged like farm murders are by people that chant “kill the boer”. One should have sympathy with the frustrations of those who leave.
It’s hard to take people supposedly fleeing genocide with their expensive luggage on a chartered flight from OR Tambo seriously, surely?
I think it would be a slap in the face to tell people you should not be fearful if somebody chants “kill the Afrikaners”, and tell them they are fleeing. That’s no laughing matter.
Is a chant by a has-been politician really enough for Afrikaners to claim refugee status?
The problem is not the has-been politician chanting it; it’s the president of this country refusing to condemn it.
The US Episcopal Church, which has worked with real refugees for 40 years, says your Afrikaners make a mockery of the concept.
Part of the Christian religion is to have empathy with the suffering of people.
They say they have empathy for refugees from Sudan, not Afrikaner so-called refugees from South Africa.
It’s frustrating when people use other areas, where there are human rights abuses, to try to downplay farm murders.
How many of these Afrikaner refugees are actually farmers?
That I don’t know, but the “Kill the boer” song is not only applicable to farmers, it’s Afrikaners.
Wasn’t the narrative fed to Trump that it’s Afrikaans farmers being targeted by the government? Are you shifting from that?
No, that is of course part of the reason, but racial legislation has always been part of the package.
Is that enough to turn Afrikaners into refugees?
I can’t, of course, say all Afrikaners.
Does racial legislation justify refugee status?
For many of them it’s not only racial legislation, it’s real persecution because they’ve been victims of crime.
Aren’t black South Africans even bigger victims of crime?
Yes, but what makes it different is you have somebody openly promoting the murder of Afrikaners. And then you have people trying to downplay it, as you’re doing with your questions right now.
Aren’t you making a mockery of the refugee concept?
No. If you look at the US definition of priority type two refugees, they haven't built this concept for Afrikaners, they’ve applied it elsewhere in the world as well.
Would you put these Afrikaners in the same category as refugees from countries like Sudan?
No, they’re more in the category of refugees who have been subject to persecution, like religious communities in Iran.
Are you saying Afrikaners are in the same category as Iranians being slaughtered for their beliefs?
Yes, on farms. Not only slaughtered, but tortured.
But you admit the Afrikaans refugees are not all farmers?
Yes, but they’ve been victims of 142 race laws.
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