News24, one of South Africa's leading news websites, has published a series of reports which it says debunk false claims by the United States alleging that the South African government is engaging in racial discrimination against white people.
In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized South Africa for "discriminating" against the country's white population, even claiming that a "genocide" against white South Africans is underway - an allegation that has been vigorously denied by the country's government.
According to News24 reports, the false racism accusations against South Africa by the Trump administration stem in large part from an anonymous social media user who published a series of misleading posts online, which were subsequently shared widely.
The claims made by the user gained attention from Trump and Elon Musk, who is a South African citizen and a key figure in Trump's administration, and fueled the false narrative of "racial discrimination" in South Africa, according to the reports.
Through continuous tracking and reporting, News24 uncovered the real person behind the social account, but the U.S. and Western media chose to overlook their findings.
"He was an African guy, but he was using an anonymous name, and we said, 'Who is this guy? Wait a minute, who is this person from South Africa spreading this fake news into the world?' And we managed to find his name. He was not a farmer or a Boer as he pretended to be. He was, in fact, living in Cape Town, close to Cape Town, running a small guest house hotel, and he was living a good life. He was not under attack, so he was pretending false information, and we exposed him, of course," said News24's editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson.
Basson said he expected all South Africans to stay united, despite these false accusations.
"We will carry on with our lives as normal. We work together, we live together, we party together, and South Africa has had 30 years of reconciliation where we had to learn how to live together as a country," he said.
News website publishes reports debunking false racism claims against South African gov’t
