JOHN STEENHUISEN RUBBISHES “WHITE GENOCIDE” CLAIMS, SAYS SOUTH AFRICA’S REAL CRISIS IS CRIME AFFECTING ALL RACES, RESPONDS TO COMMENTS BY US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AT DAVOS ABOUT AFRIKANER COMMUNITIES
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has strongly dismissed claims that there is a “white genocide” taking place in South Africa, calling such allegations misleading and harmful. He said the country’s biggest problem is not race-based extermination, but a severe and widespread crime crisis that affects everyone – black, white, coloured and Indian alike.
Steenhuisen was responding to renewed remarks by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who raised concerns at the World Economic Forum in Davos about the safety and treatment of Afrikaner communities, particularly farmers. Trump suggested that white South Africans are being deliberately targeted, a narrative that has circulated internationally for several years.
The DA leader said while farm attacks and violent crime in rural areas are real and must be taken seriously, it is dishonest to frame them as proof of a racially driven genocide. According to him, crime in South Africa is brutal and out of control across the board, with townships, suburbs, inner cities and rural areas all suffering from murders, robberies, gender-based violence and organised crime.
Steenhuisen stressed that the issue is a failing criminal justice system, weak policing, corruption and poor leadership, not a government policy to target any specific racial group. He warned that spreading the “white genocide” narrative creates unnecessary fear, deepens racial divisions and damages South Africa’s image globally, which can scare off investors and tourists and worsen unemployment.
He added that the real solution lies in strengthening the SAPS, improving intelligence, fixing the courts, protecting all communities – including farmers – and ensuring that criminals, regardless of who they are or who their victims are, are arrested and convicted.
In short, Steenhuisen said South Africa’s crisis is not about race, but about safety, law and order, and the failure of the state to protect its people.