Backgrounder: Are white South Africans dying by genocide?

The murders of white farmers in South Africa has helped spark a diplomatic fallout between South Africa and the United States. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa met with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on May 21, and Trump used the opportunity to show Ramaphosa (and gathered media) a video of South African politicians chanting for the killing of white farmers. But Ramaphosa and other South African officials say Trump has misrepresented the issue.

Who’s accusing South Africa of “genocide”? In February, President Trump signed an executive order halting all foreign aid to South Africa, citing what he called the country’s “egregious” treatment of its white minority. Although the order didn’t accuse South Africa of “genocide,” Trump told reporters on May 12, “It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about.” The U.S. also admitted 59 white South Africans as refugees in May.

Who are the white farmers in question? South Africa has a population of 63 million residents. About 5 million are white, and half of these are “Afrikaners.” Also called “Boers,” these white settlers began arriving in the 1600s primarily from the Netherlands. They traditionally worked as farmers and have their own language, Afrikaans. Afrikaners played a central role in establishing apartheid, the system of racial segregation and discrimination that was abolished in 1994.

Exactly how many white farmers are being killed? That is unknown. South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world—45 per 100,000 people annually, compared with 7.5 per 100,000 in the United States. But official crime data generally do not specify race. It is widely agreed that farm murders constitute only a small fraction of overall homicides in South Africa. The country’s police minister has said that from October 2024 to March 2025, 18 people were killed in farm attacks, but only two were white. But AfriForum, a group that advocates for the rights of Afrikaners and other minorities, estimates that more than one farmer is killed per week. With only around 50,000 farmers in the country, the group says the threat to farmers is disproportionately high. AfriForum also claims more farmers would be killed were they not proactively defending themselves.

Who was chanting for the killing of white farmers? In 2023, left-wing South African politician Julius Malema led a stadium of 95,000 supporters in chanting “Shoot to kill! Kill the Boer, the farmer!” The words are from a song that originated during the apartheid era. President Ramaphosa did not condemn Malema, and South African courts ruled the incident was not hate speech.

What does South Africa say in response? Ramaphosa emphatically denies genocide. Earlier in 2025, a South African court ruled that claims of white genocide were “not real” and “clearly imagined.” South African authorities argue that, since crime rates are very high, it is inevitable some white farmers will be killed as well.

Are the farm attacks racially motivated? Gideon Joubert, a private security con­sultant in South Africa, thinks some farm attacks are linked to commonplace robberies. But “others have an element of extreme sadism to them that is unheard of in residential robberies,” he said. “It’s hatred manifesting in physical action and torture.”