A group of 49 white South Africans granted refugee status under a program initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump departed OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Sunday night for the United States, the South African Department of Transport confirmed on Monday, reported Xinhua.
"It departed at around 10:30 last night, and we had to issue a permit for a chartered flight," Collen Msibi, national spokesperson for the department, told Xinhua over the phone.
When asked whether this was the only charter application for the refugees going to the United States that the transport department had issued, he confirmed that it was the only one. It has been reported that upon their arrival in Washington, the 49 individuals would meet with Trump government officials and that a media briefing would be held.
Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, told a South African Broadcasting Corporation radio station that they were aware of the departure of the white South Africans, sometimes referred to as Afrikaners — the group with the longest history among white settlers in South Africa and comprising the bulk of the white population.
He said law enforcement agencies had to screen them to ensure they had no pending criminal charges. "What we sought … was to ensure that the individuals who are boarding these flights are not fugitives of justice. They are not individuals who are wanted by our courts, and the screening processes that they embarked on align with our screening processes," Phiri said.
He emphasized that these white South Africans are not refugees, adding that the two governments planned to engage in discussions on the issue.
"It is important for us to also state to the world and our international partners across the world that there is no basis for these individuals to be declared refugees. It's highly unprecedented what we are seeing," Phiri said during a Monday morning interview.
Despite suspending the U.S. refugee resettlement program upon taking office in January, Trump was able to sign an executive order in February, granting refugee status to white Afrikaners and allowing them to come to the United States. The Trump administration said white Afrikaners were being targeted and had their land seized, a claim the South African government has rejected as "misinformation."
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
