South African scholar rejects U.S. accusation of country's racial discrimination against Afrikaners

A South African scholar has rejected a recent U.S. accusation that Afrikaners have been discriminated in his country, calling the accusation violations of international law and part of a broader political scheme to undermine South Africa's autonomy and independence

Sizo Nkala, a research fellow at the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, made his comments in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on Monday, after a group of 49 white South Africans arrived in the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that refugee applications for the country's Afrikaner minority are being expedited as they were victims of "racial discrimination”.

The South African government has refuted that, saying that Afrikaners were not suffering any persecution that would merit refugee status.

Nkala said the granting of refugee status to white South Africans was based on falsehoods.

"Well, I think it's a move that is calculated to tarnish South Africa's image and then portray it as a rogue state, based on fictitious and false narratives of the persecution of Afrikaner citizens in South Africa. Secondly, I think it's a violation of international law and international norms,” he said.

Nkala said that South Africa is being punished as its foreign policy choices were at odds with the interests of the U.S. and other Western nations.

"It's typical of the US and the West, especially when they don't get their way with countries in the Global South. They start perpetuating and meddling these false narratives in order to get their way and pursue their narrow geopolitical interests. So we see that South Africa here is being punished for its foreign policy choices that somehow undermine or are not aligned with Western interests. So it's a violation of South Africa's autonomy and independence on the international stage,” he said.

Nkala asserted that the U.S. and other Western countries prefer African countries not to assert their sovereignty and autonomy.

"I think they would like African countries to be a pawn in a larger geopolitical game. And then they always have to toe the line. Once they don't toe the line, once they assert their independence like South Africa has, they get punished,” he said.

South African scholar rejects U.S. accusation of country's racial discrimination against Afrikaners

The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to a systemic economic shock that has reverberated through energy markets, industrial supply chains and critical maritime routes.

As part of its response to U.S. and Israeli attacks, Iran has restricted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, targeting ships associated with the United States and Israel. The blockade of this vital global energy route has driven up oil and gas prices worldwide.

As a key energy shipping lane, the strait saw 20 million barrels crude and oil product flowing through per day, around 25 percent of the world's seaborne oil trade in 2025, according to a report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) this March.

In addition, about 20 percent of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade transited Hormuz in 2024, primarily from Qatar, with a smaller volume from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Over 70 percent of the oil flowing through the strait is transported to the Asian market. Japan and Republic of Korea (ROK) import 90 percent and 95 percent of their respective oil consuption.

The IEA estimates that as of the end of March, Hormuz disruptions have led to an oil supply gap of roughly 10 million to 16 million barrels per day.

Though the IEA made 400 million barrels of emergency oil stocks available in March -- the largest-ever release coordinated by the agency, it still failed to curb the rapid rise in international oil prices.

Based on Fitch Ratings' March outlook, should the Middle East conflict persist until the end of June, it could see global real GDP growth shrink by approximately 0.8 percentage points.

"Shipping costs are rising because of insurance premiums, because of higher fuel costs, and because of longer trips as you have to avoid certain parts. Then that starts feeding through to higher prices of other goods as well. That could be food, commodities, etc. And then the other thing to think about is inventory and supply chain disruptions. And then when you combine all of these factors together, it feeds into producer price indices and consumer price indices," said Cedric Chehab, chief economist at BMI, a Fitch Solutions company.

Middle East tensions hit global economy