Tech billionaire Elon Musk's father is working on a project to grant refugee status in Russia to South African farmers,
Errol Musk, father of Elon Musk PHOTO: X
The initiative would ensure the resettlement of 50 families belonging to the white Afrikaans minority, descendants of the first Dutch settlers, according to a Russian official.
The same group of South Africans received the offer of refugee status from the government of US President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed that they were facing persecution from the post-apartheid government, writes France24.
Nearly 5,000 white Afrikaners have entered the United States as refugees since Trump took office last January and almost completely suspended refugee programs for all other groups.
The US program has angered the South African government, which denies any form of discrimination. Contacted by AFP by telephone on Tuesday, Errol Musk said from Moscow: “This is about granting refugee status to South African farmers.”
50 families at risk
Musk, who regularly visits Russia and attended an Orthodox Easter service in Moscow on April 12 in the presence of President Vladimir Putin, did not provide details about the project.
In an interview with Russian media outlet Gubernia 33, he justified the project by claiming that white Afrikaner farmers were being targeted for killing, allegations strongly denied in South Africa. Washington made similar claims in its justification for encouraging Afrikaners to settle in the United States.
The governor of the Vladimir region, which borders the Moscow region, Aleksandr Avdeyev, said last week that he had discussed the project with Musk.
“We discussed the development of agriculture and the prospects of settling 50 families of Dutch origin in South Africa”he stated on Telegram. Although Afrikaners have been immigrating to Russia since 2018, according to reports, Musk's involvement appears to be new information.
A controversial character
Now, at nearly 80, he is a controversial figure. In an interview with CNN late last year, he denied the existence of racial oppression during apartheid, a harsh system of segregation that denied the black majority basic rights.
Elon Musk, who left South Africa in his late teens, regularly accuses the government of racism, notably for refusing to grant a license to his internet provider Starlink. In a new social media post this weekend, he stated: “South Africa won't license Starlink, even though I was BORN THERE, simply because I'm not black!”
South African laws aimed at rebalancing apartheid-era discrimination require large companies to be at least 30 percent owned by people from previously disadvantaged communities.
Elon Musk was spreading the word “lies and misinformation”, President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson replied to X.
“fuzzy” project
Errol Musk's project in Russia was “hazy” said Friedrich von Treskow, a former researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs who has studied Russia's influence in South Africa. Pretoria and Moscow have close ties dating back to the anti-apartheid struggle, when the Soviet Union provided support to the African National Congress and its military wing.
“It could create tensions with Pretoria,” von Treskow told AFP referring to Musk senior's plan. “Pretoria has been very reluctant to criticize Russia on any matter.”
In February, Ramaphosa expressed his “sincere gratitude” to Putin for agreeing to facilitate the return of more than a dozen men recruited to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
Since then, fifteen of them have returned. Last month, the investigative publication Forbidden Stories reported that ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula had in December 2024 thanked Russian influencers for “assistance” them before the general election earlier that year.
He also has “requested“, in a secret meeting, $300,000 to fund an ANC party congress. Mbalula, one of the front-runners to replace Ramaphosa as party leader, which could propel him into the race for the presidency, dismissed the allegations as “unfounded” and “part of a disinformation campaign”.
