The global trend of political discourse balkanisation has reached South Africa, evidenced by the proliferation of interest groups claiming the country is facing a “white genocide,” writes columnist Tom Eaton.
Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the South African government is “killing white people,” specifically Afrikaners, continues to be welcomed or amplified by a significant number of white South Africans, many of whom, according to the writer, clearly know the claim is false.
Eaton recently wrote a widely-read Facebook post attempting to explain to an international audience that no genocide is occurring in the country. The nearly 2,000 comments on the post provided a sample of South Africans who are either celebrating or sharing Trump’s claims.
The writer reports encountering expected anger and ad hominem attacks—being labelled an “ANC shill,” a communist, or a “hanskakie” (a historic slur for treacherous Afrikaners). Respondents dismissed the fact that poor black South Africans face a greater risk of violent crime and cannot apply for refugee status in the US on the same basis as the “white genocide” narrative.
Many respondents reacted with confusion and pain, often insisting that disputing Trump’s lie was the same as denying that white farmers are sometimes victims of violent crime. Eaton notes that outrage often clouded people’s ability to read for meaning, leading some to reprimand him for not admitting South Africa has high levels of violent crime, despite him having confirmed this point.
Eaton’s most unexpected finding was how quickly those thanking Trump “disintegrated under the slightest scrutiny,” revealing they were aware that Trump was lying and that the government is not targeting white people for extermination.
“But there is an extraordinary moral cowardice at work,” Eaton writes, referring to those willing to “provide aid and comfort to American white nationalism… just for the cheap thrill of seeing the ANC dragged through the streets.” The columnist states that while he can understand the “true believers” who are genuinely driven by fear, the willingness of others to promote a known falsehood to shame the ruling party is a profound moral failure.
