For years, white supremacists have pushed the myth of a so-called ‘white g*nocide’ in South Africa to justify their racist paranoia and deflect from the real victims of systemic oppression. But now, a South African court has shattered this lie, ruling that the claim is ‘clearly imagined’ and ‘not real.’
The court blocked a $2.1-million donation from white settler Grantland Michael Bray intended for the white-supremacist group Boerelegioen, which calls itself a ‘civil defence movement that enable[s] the citizens to resist the promised slaughter of whites in [South Africa] as well as the theft of their property.’
The court characterised Bray’s assertions as ‘contrary to public policy.’
Bray had allocated funds in his will to support Boerelegioen’s training programmes before he died in 2022. Bray’s siblings, who, as beneficiaries of his estate, filed the lawsuit, arguied their brother was ‘obsessed with the idea of an impending gen*cide of white people in South Africa.’ Judge Rosheni Allie noted that online material Bray consumed reinforced his views. The Boerelegioen denied discriminating against people based on gender, race or religion, claiming instead to only offer security and training to communities. However, Bray allegedly told an employee the money would go to an organisation that would ‘exterminate every Black person.’ Ultimately, Allie ruled in favour of Bray’s siblings and ordered Boerelegioen to cover legal costs.
This verdict comes at a poignant time, amidst renewed hysteria from figures like US President Donald Trump, who recently denounced ‘large-scale klling of farmers’ in South Africa. Plus, Trump advisor and South Africa-born Tesla CEO Elon Musk falsely claimed the South African government enacted ‘racist ownership laws’ and is trying to kll white settler farmers in a bid to push them off the land through a new land expropriation law designed to rectify long-standing inequity. In early February, Trump signed an executive order to freeze aid to South Africa and offered white settlers refuge in the United States, despite overwhelming evidence that no such ‘g*nocide’ exists.
White settlers enjoy a higher standard of living than Black South Africans more than 30 years after the end of the apartheid system, owning around 70 per cent of South Africa’s private farmland while making up less than 8 per cent of the population. South Africa Human Rights Commission’s 2021 study found 1 per cent of white settlers lived in poverty compared to 64 per cent of Blacks people, underscoring the real ongoing racial injustice in the country.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyj1198wy3o
https://apnews.com/article/trump-south-africa-afrikaners-0120efec17122b47e3371e0e39fe1db8
https://time.com/7225641/white-south-africans-gather-us-embassy-support-donald-trump