As South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits the United States this week, ActionAid USA’s Director of Policy and Campaigns, Brandon Wu, said:
“The Trump administration’s resettlement of white South Africans makes it clear that to the MAGA crowd, being anti-immigrant is really just code for being racist. They’re not just saying the quiet part out loud; they’re screaming it at the top of their lungs. There was never any doubt that this is a pro-apartheid, white supremacist administration, but now they’re not even bothering to pretend otherwise. Millions of genuinely vulnerable people are suffering thanks to blatant racism made official U.S. policy.”
ActionAid South Africa’s Country Program Manager, Sakhile Zungu, said:
“ActionAid South Africa would like to categorically state that there is no ‘white genocide in South Africa’ such as is being purported by the Trump Administration. This is misinformation being spread by right-wing, racist, and anti-transformation groups to subvert the South African government’s land reform and restitution policies. The Trump administration has been courted by the myth and illusion. The State visit by President Ramaphosa is a significant step towards engagement between the two countries – one which we hope will be used to dispel the myth and inspire a change in the destructive attitude of the American government towards transformation laws and policies in South Africa.”
ENDS
Brandon Wu, Director of Policy and Campaigns, is available as a spokesperson. For media requests, please email christal.james@actionaid.org or call 7046659743.
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 countries, including some of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty, including by shifting power to local organizations and movements.
ActionAid South Africa allies with youth, grassroots communities, and social movements to address the systemic drivers of poverty, injustice, and inequality in South Africa.
