By Nellie Peyton
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -A group called Amerikaners, set up by white South Africans hoping to take up U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of resettlement, has been enlisted by his administration to help identify suitable applicants for the controversial programme.
Trump established the refugee programme in February for “Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination”, referring to an ethnic group descended mostly from Dutch settlers.
According to a statement posted on the website of the U.S. embassy in South Africa on Monday, the Amerikaners group is now a “designated Department of State referral partner” for the programme.
The group will gather information from potential applicants to assess whether their case is eligible for referral, and refer cases to the State Department for access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the statement said.
South Africa’s government strongly opposes the programme, saying allegations of discrimination are unfounded and that members of the white minority it targets – the most economically privileged group in South Africa – do not meet the definition of refugees.
The U.S. administration has discussed bringing some 30,000 white South Africans to the country in the coming year, which would require it to greatly ramp up the programme. As of early August, less than 100 had arrived.
Amerikaners is led by Sam Busa, a 60-year-old South African woman of British descent, who established the group in response to Trump’s executive order.
One of the group’s first moves was to gather signatures for a memorandum addressed to Trump, formally accepting his offer and making a case for their resettlement. The document, posted on Amerikaners’ website, lists their community’s values as being “Christian, conservative, and English-speaking”, and says they are not seeking charity, but a chance to “serve America”.
Busa declined a request for comment.
A State Department spokesperson said they did not comment on specific implementing partners, adding in a written response that “we are grateful for the many South African citizens who have expressed their support for this refugee program”.
(Additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington;Editing by Tim Cocks and Helen Popper)
