By Tafi Mhaka
On March 3, Tucker Carlson, an American political commentator popular among Maga conservatives and the global far right, held an odd and disturbing interview with South African right wing activist and deputy CEO of Afriforum, Ernst Roets.
Afriforum is a right wing South African non governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to advancing the interests of Afrikaners– descendants of mainly Dutch colonial settlers who formalised the segregationist system of apartheid in 1948.
The discussion, titled ‘Man charged with treason for speaking to Tucker about the killing of whites in South Africa’, lasted more than an hour and featured a dangerous mix of conspiratorial perspectives, inaccuracies, half-truths and blatant lies. Carlson, ever the debauched provocateur, commenced the lengthy conversation with the ludicrous claim that South Africa “appears to be collapsing and that the government is essentially genocidally racist”.
The idea that South Africa’s government is racist and committing a “genocide” against the country’s white minority is, of course, not new.
For many years, white activists, including United States (US) President Donald Trump’s billionaire special adviser Elon Musk, have alleged that South Africa’s government is trying to rid the country of its white minorities, and that the murders of white farmers there–which make up no more than 1 percent of all murders in the country every year–amount to “genocide”.
Trump also promotes this narrative and announced his decision to cut off aid to South Africa and offer refugee status to Afrikaners over such concerns on February 7 this year.
A month later, he upgraded this offer and opened up an expedited path to citizenship for this allegedly persecuted and threatened minority. Of course, not only crime statistics but also many white South Africans themselves, all respected international and local NGOs, and experts on genocide laugh in the face of this “white genocide” myth.
On February 25, a South African court ruled that the claims of a white genocide in the country are “clearly imagined” and “not real”. None of this was explained in the conversation between Tucker and Roets. Instead, South Africa being a failed country and a seething mass of genocidal violence was accepted as fact and casually presented as proof of African primitivity.
Throughout the conversation, Roets made clear that he believes Africans are inherently unable to establish a robust, inclusive and progressive democracy and will always need white control, pressure and guidance to run a functioning country.
He faced no pushback. Of course, Roets’ portrayal of his homeland and the majority of South African people as primitive, violent and genocidal is not based on any reality.
South Africa is not in a state of disarray or committing genocide against a racial minority. Sure, the country has its problems and struggles like any other, but it is in possession of one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, as well as a strong and independent judiciary.
The South
