South African authorities have arrested and will expel seven Kenyans accused of working without the correct documentation on a US government programme to accept white Afrikaners as “refugees”, the government said Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump’s administration in May offered refugee status to the minority white Afrikaner community, claiming they were victims of discrimination and even “genocide”, which the Pretoria government strongly denies.
The United States engaged Kenyans from a Christian NGO based in Kenya to come to South Africa to fast-track the processing of applications for resettlement under the programme.
During a raid on a processing centre in Johannesburg on Tuesday, “seven Kenyan nationals were discovered engaging in work despite only being in possession of tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry into the country,” the home affairs department said.
“They were arrested and issued with deportation orders, and will be prohibited from entering South Africa again for a five-year period,” it said in a statement.
The raid followed “intelligence reports that a number of Kenyan nationals had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work at a centre processing the applications of so-called ‘refugees’ to the United States,” it said.
After Trump’s offer, a first group of around 50 Afrikaners — who are largely descended from Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa more than 350 years ago — were flown to the United States on a chartered plane in May.
Others have reportedly followed in smaller numbers and on commercial flights.
The Trump administration in October announced plans to take in 7,500 refugees in fiscal 2026, down from more than 100,000 a year under Democratic president Joe Biden, with most places going to Afrikaners.
Ties between Washington and Pretoria have plummeted since Trump took office, with his administration lashing out at South Africa over a range of policies, expelling its ambassador in March and imposing 30-percent trade tariffs.
– ‘Unacceptable’ –
The South African home affairs department said no US officials were arrested in the raid, which was not conducted at a diplomatic site.
No prospective “refugees” were harassed, it said, adding that the government had contacted US and Kenyan officials over the issue.
US resettlement processing in South Africa is carried out by the Resettlement Support Center (RSC) Africa, which is operated by the US-based Church World Service.
After reports emerged of a raid on an application processing centre, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement to US media that “interfering” in US refugee operations was “unacceptable”.
Washington officials were “seeking immediate clarification from the South African government and expect full cooperation and accountability,” he said.
The South African home affairs department said “foreign officials” were apparently coordinating with the undocumented workers which “raises serious questions about intent and diplomatic protocol.”
South Africa shares with the United States a commitment to “combating illegal immigration and visa abuse in all its forms,” it said.
The Trump administration has made repeated claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted since the end of white minority rule in 1994, including with attacks on farms and requirements for black representation in business.
Pretoria rejects the allegations, pointing out that more black South Africans are the main victims of the country’s high crime rate and that economic empowerment laws are intended to redress stark inequalities inherited from apartheid.
The fallout led Washington to boycott South Africa’s summit of the G20 group of leading economies in November.
The United States took over the rotating year-long G20 presidency this month and has said South Africa would not be invited to events that it hosts.
AFP
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