WorldTrump spotlight divides S.Africa’s Afrikaners (AFP, April 14, 2025)
Mainly Afrikaner-led governments imposed the race-based apartheid system that denied the black majority political and economic rights until it was voted out in 1994.
Under apartheid, whites benefited from reserved access to jobs, education, land and markets.
The privilege has a legacy. For example, unemployment among white South Africans stands at more than six percent compared to more than 35 percent for the black population.
Prominent journalist and author, Max du Preez, was scathing of complaints of persecution among his fellow Afrikaners.
“Afrikaners are far better off materially and culturally today than in 1994,” he told AFP.
Afrikaans culture is thriving, he said, adding that it is the only local language with four television channels and an array of newspapers, magazines and festivals.
The fear of white persecution “is a phantom pain: it’s not about what is actually happening, but about what could happen”, he said.
“Nothing is coming. The last thing that will happen here is a race war.”
Afrikaner “disillusion” grew as the post-apartheid economy struggled with corruption and governance, said professor Christi van der Westhuizen, author of several books on Afrikaner identity.
This made many susceptible to “divisive” narratives pushed by right-wing groups with roots in apartheid, even if “significant sections of Afrikaners remain vehemently opposed” to these ideas, she said.
Such groups have found a sympathetic audience in the United States, where Trump is close to conservative South African-born billionaire Elon Musk.