Under a barrage of lies about Afrikaners, here’s the truth about proud and resilient South Africans

It is impossible to stay silent in the presence of a blatant lie. More so in the face of a set of blatant lies.

It is the end of another year. In my 52, I have never experienced anything like this one, mostly because of the prevalence of dis- and malinformation. Lies. Information presented in certain ways. Propaganda. More lies.

In 2025, they found a landing patch quite close to home. By home, I mean South Africa and my (our) particularly precarious Afrikaner identity.

There was the Oval Office meeting adorned with the morbid sadness of white crosses depicting one kind of South African murder.

There was the nauseating, inflammatory and divisive rhetoric of a white genocide in South Africa against the backdrop of several actual (and a tad more real) humanitarian disasters (remember Gaza, Sudan, Nigeria, Ukraine and others?).

There was the embarrassment of a novel phenomenon: the Afrikaner refugee. Who on God’s dear earth would have thought that THIS would be a thing in 2025? Of all the people on the planet living in discomfort and fear, this one group would become the chosen to enter the US of A. Unbelievable, yet true.

Then came the end of the year with its exams and graduations. My daughter pointed me to a well-known Afrikaner’s daughter being sworn in as a medical doctor after having qualified from the University of Pretoria’s department of health sciences.

I was thankful for them and silently (amid my confusion and disbelief) wished her and her family well.

A few days later came a picture of the 2025 final-year MBChB class from said university. A beautiful group. A diverse group. But with many white faces. Several. Many.

What a lie, then.

What a lie that white kids can’t study medicine in South Africa.

What a lie that whites are being slaughtered.

What a lie that white children don’t have a future in South Africa.

So what is the truth, then?

The truth is that life is difficult.

The truth is that those young people (all of them) in the med school’s picture have had intense and traumatic training under very challenging circumstances.

The truth is that I know some of the kids in that picture.

The truth is that South Africa has a MASSIVE crime problem.

The truth is that too many of these crimes are violent.

The truth is that victims of violent crime often end up in hospital.

The truth is that injured (and traumatised) people will be helped by doctors and nurses and counsellors, regardless of the colour of the skin of the medical professional or the vulnerable patient.

The truth is that in many media outlets, crimes affecting white people make headline news.

The truth is that many violent crimes affecting people of colour do not get any attention and will die silent deaths: unnoticed, unexploited, barely mourned.

The truth is that we won’t be described by the word “slaughtered”.

The truth is that we know we are broken.

The truth is that South Africans are resilient.

The truth is that we will not accept these lies.

The truth is that we are proud of our (broken) country.

The truth is that we have a LOT to improve and build and reimagine.

The truth is that the majority of South Africa’s beautiful people have decided to do this TOGETHER for the sake of ALL our people.

May we never keep quiet in the presence of blatant lies. DM

Rudi Swanepoel is one of the original signatories to the ‘Not in our name’ Afrikaner open letter and a full-time minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.