AfriForum’s chief executive Kallie Kriel has rejected accusations that his organisation is behind the recent deterioration in relations between South Africa and the United States, insisting that the group has been unfairly blamed for political fallout following Donald Trump’s G20 boycott announcement.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika on Saturday, Kriel said AfriForum has never described the situation in South Africa as a “white genocide,” calling the accusation a “lie spread by the ANC.”
“The fact is, those media institutions that accused us of spreading the white genocide narrative, we took them to the Press Ombud and already five of those institutions had to apologise to us. We never used that terminology,” said Kriel.
Kriel clarified that AfriForum’s concern lies specifically with hate speech and the “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” chant, which he described as a “genocidal call”, but stressed that the organisation has never claimed a genocide is taking place.
“All we are asking from the government and the president is — condemn this call, acknowledge the fact that we are seeing tortures that accompany these murders, and declare it a priority crime,” he said.
AfriForum Says It Warned the US Against Punishing South Africa
Kriel said AfriForum’s visit to the United States was intended to warn Washington about potential diplomatic fallout if South Africa failed to address farm attacks and political rhetoric.
“We went to the US after that post (by Trump) and made a plea to the US administration not to punish the country for the irresponsible behaviour of the ANC,” he said.
He accused the ANC of trying to deflect blame for its own diplomatic missteps, citing Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor’s past visit to Iran and the government’s decision to sign the Expropriation Act as examples of actions that had already strained ties with Washington.
“Long before we went to the US, a Bill was tabled in the House of Representatives calling for a review of relations with South Africa. We did not go to Iran, we did not sign the Expropriation Act, we are not the ones refusing to condemn the ‘Kill the Boer’ chant. It is the irresponsible behaviour of ANC leaders,” Kriel added.
Growing Diplomatic Fallout Ahead of G20 Summit
The controversy has intensified just weeks before the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that his administration would boycott the event, claiming South Africa is persecuting white farmers.
Trump’s remarks, posted on Truth Social, accused Pretoria of turning a blind eye to “Afrikaners being killed and their farms confiscated.”
His claims were echoed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who alleged that Afrikaners were facing racial persecution — remarks that drew sharp condemnation from South African officials.
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola dismissed the accusations as “politically motivated and unsupported by data,” calling them a “distortion of South Africa’s democratic reality.”
Observers warn that the episode has deepened divisions both domestically and internationally, with civil-society groups, opposition parties, and government officials trading blame over who is responsible for escalating tensions.
