Land confiscation or misinformation - what’s really happening on South African farms?

In an unusual twist of geopolitics and identity, nearly 60 white, Afrikaans-speaking South Africans – including some farmers – have been granted refugee status by the United States.

Their asylum claims are not based on war, famine, or dictatorship, but rather on alleged racial persecution in democratic South Africa.

US President Donald Trump also claimed that a "genocide" was occurring in South Africa, saying that white farmers were being "brutally killed" and "their land is being confiscated."

But is this truly the case?

According to Wandile Sihlobo, a leading South African agricultural economist, the reality on the ground tells a different story.

He argues that South Africa’s agricultural sector is not under siege, as Trump claimed.

In fact, since the end of apartheid in 1994, the sector has more than doubled in both value and volume.

In 2024 alone, South Africa’s agricultural exports reached a record high of $13.7 billion.

Employment in the sector has also seen significant growth, with over 913,000 people now employed at the primary level – a marked increase since 1994, he adds.