South Africa: Ambassador Meyer Wants Trump Afrikaner Refugee Plan Stopped

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a Scrolla report from Johannesburg dated 21 July 2026, reported that Roelf Meyer, South Africa’s new ambassador to the United States, wants President Donald Trump’s Afrikaner refugee programme brought to an end. Meyer said he was working to have Trump’s order cancelled, while acknowledging that this would be difficult because the White House continues to back the policy.

According to the report, Trump signed the order in February 2025. It allows Afrikaners who say they face mistreatment in South Africa to relocate to the United States as refugees. Trump has argued that South Africa is taking land and treating some groups unfairly, while the South African government rejects those claims. The report said the first 59 Afrikaners arrived in the U.S. in May 2025 and that many more applications have followed.

The issue matters because it places a sensitive South African domestic debate inside U.S. immigration and foreign policy. The Scrolla report noted that critics of the plan argue white South Africans remain among the country’s wealthiest and most protected communities, and that crime affects South Africans across racial groups. The White House, by contrast, says Afrikaners are under attack and being pushed off farms.

Meyer’s comments suggest Pretoria is seeking diplomatic pressure against a policy it views as based on false claims about South Africa. The report did not indicate any change in the U.S. position, and said the Trump administration maintains that the programme will continue.