Fleeing the Land of Elephants, Lions, and Ancestors
An Interview with an Afrikaner Refugee
Frederik, not his real name, is an Afrikaner living just outside a major South African metropolitan area. He is not a farmer, he’s a professional. Frederik and his family live in relative comfort but would not be considered wealthy by most standards of the world. Frederik can trace his ancestry back to the original Dutch settlers who arrived in what is now South Africa nearly 400 years ago.
Yet, despite the deep roots his family has in the country and the many generations of his ancestors buried there, Frederik and his family want to leave, or rather flee, to the United States. To leave behind a culture and way of life for an unknown future in a country he has never visited. To leave his homeland and probably never be able to return.
Frederik was kind enough to be interviewed via a secure video link on the condition that his identity and any identifying information be kept secret. His native land, tamed by his ancestors, has gone from being ruled by laws to being ruled by fear and terror. And saying the wrong thing, either publicly or privately, can result in horrifying consequences for the individual, their families, and their friends.
TMC: Thank you for consenting to an interview, Frederik.
F: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. It’s very heartening to know that there are people out there who want to know what is really happening here.
TMC: The fallout from the South African president’s visit to the White House earlier this month is, well, still falling out. And the story of the genocide of the Afrikaner people is still in the headlines. Since the meeting between President Trump and President Ramaphosa, what effect has it had in South Africa — especially among the Afrikaner people?
F: The South African government, more specifically the president, has doubled down, saying that there is no problem with the singing of songs calling for the murder of Afrikaners - and I should say here that that call is really for the murder of all White South Africans, including those of Anglo stock.
In the Afrikaner community, the reaction to the meeting, and the reaction ever since President Trump first started drawing attention to our plight in early February, has been overwhelmingly positive. At first, we were shocked, surprised, that finally, what was happening here was being spoken of openly. For decades, our plight has been ignored by the mainstream media and by Western leaders. Even today, the European Union cozies up to the South African government, ignoring the genocidal rhetoric it enables. So to go from a situation where you are either ignored or demonized, to the president of the United States talking about the oppression and persecution of your people, starting a refugee program, and revealing the truth of what is happening live on television in the Oval Office - it’s surreal. It has given many of us hope for the first time in a very, very, very long time.
TMC: The US State Department has just issued a warning to Americans thinking of traveling to South Africa not to go there, claiming an increase in violence and terrorism. Have things gotten worse in South Africa in recent days?
F: Every day in South Africa is worse than the one before. This may sound hyperbolic but it’s a fact borne out by any statistics or metrics you look at. Crime, poverty, the collapse of infrastructure, violent political rhetoric - these and many other things only go in one direction, and it’s never a positive one.
TMC: Most Americans are under the mistaken impression that the Afrikaners are the descendants of “invaders” or “colonists.” But they were, in fact, the first people to settle that part of the continent. Could you give a brief explanation on the origins of the Afrikaner people?
F: Afrikaners are the descendants of mostly Dutch, French and German people who first arrived in what is now the Western Cape in 1652. At the time the only people in that part of South Africa were the nomadic Khoi and San. The Bantu tribes, today’s “Black South Africans”, lived further to the east, and also in what are today inland provinces of South Africa. Contact with them only began about 100 years after the establishment of the colony in the Cape. The Khoisan peoples once inhabited the interior of the country as well but they were pushed out and genocided by the Bantu moving in from Central Africa.
The whole “who was here first” argument is something of a red herring that is often misused by those on all sides. The underlying implication often seems to be that whoever can prove they were somewhere “first” are justified in persecuting and even killing the 10th generation descendants of those deemed not to have been first.
History is important and it’s something we could go into at length, but more important is the reality on the ground today. Today, people in South Africa are being murdered because they are White. There are open calls for genocide.
TMC: So, the descendants of the Bantu peoples who migrated to from Central Africa, and committed those acts of genocide back in the day, are now heading up the political establishment and running the government?
F: Yes.
TMC: Here in the US, we’ve been hearing more and more stories of farm invasions and the brutal and barbaric murders that occur during such incidents, along with many other crimes directed toward White people. Do you think the South African authorities will be motivated to take action now that this has become more widely known overseas?
F: No, in fact, they’ve made it clear that they will take no action. They continue to deny that there is any problem. Sitting next to President Trump in the White House, Ramaphosa and his delegation said they do not support the rhetoric coming from Malema and others who sing “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer.” But upon his return to South Africa, Ramaphosa said that nobody will be arrested for singing the song, and that there is nothing wrong with singing it. Ramaphosa and other officials have doubled down on race-based laws, and made it clear that nothing will change.
TMC: Some of these farm attacks are extremely brutal.
F: They are. It’s been well documented and there are many crime scene photos out there on the Internet, but I would suggest avoiding looking for them if you want to avoid being traumatized.
Farm attacks often last hours. It’s not a quick raid or anything like that. The family will be tied up. The women and girls raped in front of other family members. There is torture. The use of blowtorches. Melted plastic. A little boy boiled alive in a bathtub. Boiling water poured down the throat of a pensioner. Absolutely horrific, gruesome violence.
TMC: There has been some controversy here about the US taking in Afrikaner refugees — almost elusively from leftists and so-called Liberals. But more and more people seem to be more sympathetic to your plight. There are some 2.5 million Afrikaners, as I understand. How many do you think would like to seek refuge in the United States if given the chance?
F: At least 70,000 have formally indicated interest in leaving. How many would leave if a full refugee program is set up? I’d be surprised if it’s less than several hundred thousand.
TMC: It’s my understanding that there’s also a significant population of homeless White people in South Africa. Once prosperous and productive families are now relegated to shanty towns and tent cities because current racial laws forbid them from working. Former white-collar and blue-collar professionals live in shacks because they aren’t permitted to work. How long has that been going on, and how many of these White homeless are there?
F: It’s been going on since the ANC government came into power in 1994. One of the first things it did was to empty the public service of White employees and replace them with Black ones. It follows a policy of what it calls “cadre deployment,” where positions in government and the public service are given to members of the party as a reward for their membership and loyalty, not competence, education, or anything relevant to doing their appointed job.
As for how many White homeless there are, we know it’s several thousand, but exact figures are not available. You have to understand that there are more than 140 race-based laws in South Africa. White people are discriminated against in hiring, education, and business. This is discrimination that is not just allowed by the law, it is required by law. Companies have to follow race quotas in ownership and employment.
I have lost jobs because I am a White man. I know many, many people who have lost jobs or cannot get a job because they are White. It’s just daily reality for White South Africans.
TMC: Are any of these White homeless aware of the refugee program President Trump has initiated?
F: Most of them are just worried about where their next meal will come from. They’re not plugged into the political situation or geopolitics. The vast majority of them are not aware of it.
TMC: Besides relative safety, why would you and your family want to come to the US? We have racial issues as well, along with crime, poverty, economic issues, and all sorts of other ills. Why here? What attracts you to the prospect of living in the United States as opposed to, say, a European country?
F: What may seem like relative safety to an American seems like absolute safety to a South African. We are well aware that you face several challenges. Because we have been through the same ones, and we lost the battle to prevent our country being taken over by radical, openly anti-White Marxists.
But there is hope in America, a chance to be safe in America. South Africa’s murder rate is about 500% higher than America’s. You can multiply that figure if you’re talking about White farmers.
Most Afrikaners also feel some connection to America. They see Americans as a kindred folk who also settled a new land after leaving Europe. Afrikaners value self-sufficiency, hard work, family. We share a lot of values with Americans.
TMC: Thank you, Frederik. And the best of luck to you and your family.
F: Thank you very much. And please ask your readers to spread the word of what is really happening. It may save our lives.
