Ramaphosa to hold another meeting with Trump over US granting refugee status to group of Afrikaners

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa will hold another meeting with US President Donald Trump to continue discussions regarding his decision to grant refugee status to a group of Afrikaners.

Ramaphosa also said that the group of 49 Afrikaners who left for the US on a chartered flight on Sunday did not fit the definition for someone who deserved refugee status.

Ramaphosa was addressing the issue during a panel discussion at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Monday.

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President Ramaphosa said that he informed Trump during a telephone conversation that Afrikaners were not being persecuted in South Africa and that those who make the claim were those opposed to transformation.

He told the African CEO Forum that it was just a fringe grouping in the country that's making the false claims and Afrikaners don't qualify for refugee status.

"I said I'm going to come and meet him so we can discuss this matter further. So those who have fled are not being persecuted, they are not being hounded, they are not being treated badly. They are leaving ostensibly because they don't want to embrace the changes taking place in our country."

Ramaphosa said that South Africa was one of the only countries on the continent where the former minority powers were embraced and not driven out.

"And we have never driven them out of our country. So they are staying and making great progress."

Ramaphosa said he was not sure whether US billionaire Elon Musk would be part of the discussions but said that he would be attending with his own delegation.