Illustrative image | The Harry S. Truman Federal Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of State. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) | Silhouettes of fleeing people. (Photo: iStock) 
The US State Department has asked the South African government to fast-track visas for around 30 workers based in Kenya so that they can assist with processing the Afrikaner “refugees”.
The Department of Home Affairs confirmed to Daily Maverick on Wednesday that the visa applications had been received on 29 July.
The plan is to bring the Nairobi-based staffers to live and work in South Africa for around two years, after which it appears the resettlement window for Afrikaner “refugees” in the US may be closed.
Government Communication and Information System spokesperson Nomonde Mnukwa told Daily Maverick that the subject was “not on the formal agenda of the Cabinet”, which met last week, and “no written submission [was] submitted for Cabinet discussions to this effect”.
Daily Maverick understands from impeccable sources, however, that the issue was verbally discussed at the last Cabinet meeting — and the sentiment was one of annoyance.
The South African government has made it clear that it deeply disapproves of the controversial “refugee” programme, with Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya saying in May: “Our position is that there are no South African citizens who can be classified as refugees to any part of the world.”
Understanding the Kenyan connection
That the Afrikaner “refugees” are being processed through Kenya has been publicly confirmed.
A notice on the website of the US mission in South Africa states: “As of July 2025, the Department of State shifted all support functions to RSC Africa, which is operated by Church World Service and based in Nairobi, Kenya.”
It continues: “RSC Africa is a trusted partner of the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) with over 20 years of experience and has no connection to the South African government. RSC Africa will be responsible for communicating with applicants and responding to applicant inquiries.”
The “Amerikaners” X account — which provides information to would-be “refugees” — posted on 17 July: “If you receive an email indicating that someone in Kenya will contact you, along with a reference number and specific phone numbers, please do not be alarmed. These emails are legitimate.”
RSC stands for Resettlement Support Centre. Its umbrella body, the Church World Service, was founded by US churches in the aftermath of World War 2 to help settle refugees fleeing Europe and Asia.
Daily Maverick understands that the Church World Service normally works on refugee resettlement in collaboration with the United Nations’ International Organisation of Migration (IOM), but in this instance, the IOM declined to assist.
The IOM did not respond to Daily Maverick’s request for comment on Wednesday, but a source told US public broadcaster NPR in May that the IOM “refused to be involved in the process”. The Episcopal Church’s migration service also refused a directive from the federal government to assist with the Afrikaners' relocation.
Church World Service released a statement in May expressing disappointment at the prioritisation of Afrikaners above other refugees by the Trump administration.
“We are concerned that the US government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement,” said the body.
It stated, nonetheless, that it was willing to provide its services to the Afrikaner “refugees”.
Church World Service had not responded to requests for comment at the time of writing.
But which visa would they be eligible for?
Immigration expert Claudia Pizzocri told Daily Maverick that the Kenya-based staffers would not be eligible for work visas in South Africa.
“Work visas are only issued to those who qualify, and subject to a secured offer or contract of employment in South Africa, by a South African entity, not a foreign embassy,” said Pizzocri.
A diplomatic source told Daily Maverick that an application for a diplomatic visa would also be unlikely to succeed because this scenario is not legally covered by the Vienna Convention, which governs diplomatic relations between countries.
Home Affairs had the answer for Daily Maverick on Wednesday: the Kenyans had applied for volunteer visas.
“Like all such applications, they will be assessed in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and criteria,” said spokesperson and deputy director-general Thulani Mavuso.
“The routine turnaround time for this visa category is eight weeks.”
But volunteer visas, as information from Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants makes clear, require applicants to receive no paid remuneration for the work they do in South Africa. All the work done must be for free.
It is highly unlikely that the resettlement workers coming from Nairobi to South Africa would, in reality, be unpaid.
A current recruitment advertisement on Church World Service's website is for a Child Protection Specialist to work in the “South Africa Resettlement Unit”, tasked with preparing reports on would-be refugee children.
It is advertised as being a “Grade 6” position, which, according to the UN salary scale, would be likely to come with a salary of “more than 2,109 USD” monthly (around R37,000).
In other words, the US State Department would probably require South African authorities to bend the rules for these applicants — and from what Daily Maverick understands, there is scant appetite from the South African executive to do so.
The US embassy did not respond to Daily Maverick’s questions on Wednesday.
Applications come at a bad time for US-SA relations
The visa applications could hardly come at a worse juncture in terms of relations between Pretoria and Washington.
The US State Department’s latest Country Report on South Africa, published on Tuesday, claimed that “the human rights situation in South Africa significantly worsened” during 2024, citing “arbitrary or unlawful killings”, incidents of “arbitrary arrest or detention” and the “repression of racial minorities”.
The report is littered with exaggerations and factual flaws.
Certain to inflame tensions in addition was the coverage of the SA National Defence Force chief, General Rudzani Maphwanya, cosying up to the top dogs of the Iranian army in Tehran on Tuesday.
Maphwanya was quoted by Iranian media as saying, “Republic of South Africa and the Islamic Republic of Iran have common goals”, a statement which is likely to concern Washington, although Maphwanya clarified that he meant that the two countries “always stand alongside the oppressed and defenceless people of the world”.
Against this backdrop, and that of the stiff export tariffs imposed on South Africa by the US, the visa saga — although it applies to only a few dozen people — takes on a heightened significance. Will Pretoria bend over backwards to accommodate a Trump project it considers nothing more than a diplomatic irritant? DM