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Trump's relationship with Musk has been described as transactional.
The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listen to remarks from US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and US Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar (both out of frame), after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, on May 12, 2025. Picture: AFP
The future of 49 South Africans who have taken up refugee status in the United States is uncertain, as developments in the White House point towards Donald Trump being disillusioned over the white genocide claims he has made about South Africa.
Trump’s ally and confidant pastor Mark Burns has been in South Africa for a few days investigating claims of a white genocide.
He told a local broadcaster that he would report back to the White House that he had found no evidence of a white genocide.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a public spat broke out between Trump and South African-born billionaire Elon Musk. The two figures even made serious threats against each other on social media.
There were claims that Musk was part of a disinformation campaign about South Africa and its “race-based” laws.
Politics in the White House
International relations expert Anthoni van Nieuwkerk told The Citizen the White House was now receiving correct information about the false claims of a white genocide in South Africa.
“I think Trump is rethinking his belief that there is a white genocide; he might back off from this and it will lead to egg on the faces of those who started this disinformation campaign,” he said.
Van Nieuwkerk said a number of exposés by journalists around the world have disproved the information that Trump presented as fact during his meeting with a South African delegation in Washington.
“These developments will allow South Africa and the US to reset relations and start over on a stronger basis,” he said.
What’s next for the ‘refugees’
Van Nieuwkerk said the 49 refugees were in a precarious situation with the uncertainty of what Trump would do next.
“They will be left with no home and they might even want to return home, because if the appetite for accommodating Afrikaners goes away and it loses its importance, then those people will be left stranded.
“By the way, it is not automatic that they will have a safe home, jobs and comfort. They will have to compete with others for the same benefits and some of them might return because the politics have now shifted fundamentally.
“This special dispensation for Afrikaners will fade away over time and very quickly. Fewer and fewer Afrikaners will take up this offer because it is very unclear what they will walk into on the other end,” he said.
Despite this, Van Nieuwkerk believes that there is no evidence to suggest that Musk was behind the disinformation campaign about South Africa.
He also believes that Trump’s feud with Musk has no direct implications for South Africa’s relationship with the US.
ALSO READ: Trump’s latest offer is not just for Afrikaners
Was Musk involved?
Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the fallout between Trump and Musk is beneficial to South Africa.
“It is clear that Trump was indebted to Elon Musk. The question is how he was going to be indebted. Trump was just a mouthpiece.
“The whole white genocide thing did not come from him. It could have had something to do with Elon Musk,” he said.
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