Why are the White SAfricans coming here as refugees. Explain it like I was 5

[jmbar2]

8. The South African government has been redistributing land away from minority whites to blacks

On February 7, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting US aid to South Africa and offering refugee status to white South African farmers, claiming the country’s new Expropriation Act has enabled racial discrimination.

Implemented in 1948, Apartheid built on many policies established by earlier colonial regimes. A core element of the national segregationist agenda was the Natives Land Act of 1913, which restricted Black South African land ownership to just 7% of the country’s territory (expanded to 13% in 1936). The law established “reserves” for Black South Africans, beyond which they were forbidden to rent or buy land. This resulted in mass forced evictions and removals of Black land owners. The Act created the foundation for territorial segregation and economic discrimination that would shape South Africa throughout the 20th century.

After decades of resistance led by figures like Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, combined with international pressure and sanctions, apartheid ended in the early 1990s, culminating in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. But while policies can be subject to swift changes, their historical impacts are another story.

A 2017 land ownership audit found that white South Africans possessed some 72% of the country’s farming and agricultural land, while Black South Africans possessed a total of 4%. For context, a 2022 census revealed that white South Africans accounted for 7.3% of the country’s population, while Black South Africans accounted for 81.4%.

https://www.jurist.org/features/2025/02/11/explainer-understanding-the-south-africa-land-reform-law-that-provoked-trumps-ire/

Similar thinking could be applied to the massive concentration of wealth in the US in the hands of the top 1%.