President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued a stark warning that disinformation campaigns, amplified by prominent international figures, are endangering South Africa’s sovereignty. He identified the false narrative of a targeted “white genocide” as a key element of this destabilizing effort.
Speaking at a party conference, Ramaphosa stated that certain groups exploit unfounded claims of persecution against the Afrikaner minority to oppose national policies aimed at redress and transformation. He argued these actions dovetail with broader ideologies of racial supremacy.
“These manufactured claims of victimhood are not just local grievances; they are being weaponized globally to undermine our nation,” Ramaphosa said, without directly naming specific foreign proponents. He emphasized the urgent need for a coordinated national and international response to counter this propaganda, which he said has tangible consequences for the country’s security and diplomatic relations.
The conspiracy theory, which alleges a systematic campaign of violence against white South Africans, has gained significant traction abroad despite being thoroughly debunked by crime statistics and academic research. While the nation grapples with a high rate of violent crime affecting all communities, data does not support the claim that white farmers or Afrikaners are disproportionately targeted because of their race.
The issue has strained South Africa’s foreign relations. Recent diplomatic moves, including the exclusion of South Africa from certain multilateral meetings, have been justified by foreign officials citing these very allegations. Concurrently, a shift in refugee policy by a major Western nation has prioritized white South Africans, a move critics link to the perpetuation of the false genocide narrative.
Afrikaners, who constitute roughly 4% of the population, are descendants of European settlers and presided over the apartheid state that enforced racial segregation and oppression until 1994. Today, significant racial economic disparities persist, with audits showing a vast majority of privately held agricultural land remains under white ownership.
President Ramaphosa’s remarks frame the challenge as a defense of the nation’s factual narrative against a well-funded disinformation campaign that seeks to distort South Africa’s complex social realities for external political purposes.