Afrikaner politician takes up Trump’s offer of asylum in the US

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A right-wing South African politician has applied for asylum in the US, claiming he faces racial persecution as a white Afrikaner. SJ Du Venage is a provincial councillor for Freedom Front Plus, a party that forms part of the country’s ruling coalition, and believes he is at risk of violence due to his activism against the murder of white farmers. He is taking advantage of an offer extended by the Trump administration, which has accused South Africa of perpetrating a “white genocide” and launched a resettlement scheme for Afrikaners while suspending other asylum programmes. South Africa is one of the world’s most violent societies. But murders on farms make up a fraction of all homicides, and the victims include black farm workers.

Read more: How false claims of ‘white genocide’ made their way to the White House