Speaking at the Africa Chief Executive Officer Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Ramaphosa says the 49 white Afrikaners who have left for the United States (US) are not facing any persecution in SA.

The group arrived at Dulles International Airport just outside Washington DC to a warm welcome from senior officials of the US Departments of State and Homeland Security.

They are the first beneficiaries of US refugee status after President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order in February seeking to address so-called “egregious actions of the Republic of SA”. 

International Relations and Co-operation Minister Ronald Lamola says the Afrikaner group that took a decision to leave for the US does not qualify for refugee status.

Lamola says all citizens in the country are treated equally.

"From the perspective of the SA government in terms of the executive orders that have defined the refugees, the SA citizens as refugees we have stated in the statement, we issued on Friday that in line with the international definition they do not qualify for that status and there is no persecution of White Afrikaner citizens in SA."

This has been proved by a number of statistics in our country including police reports.

--SABC--