WorldNetDaily has long had an affinity for the white part of South Africa, from Anthony LoBaido’s hanging out with pro-apartheid militant groups to former columnist Ilana Mercer pining for the days of apartheid. Charlreston shooter and white supremacist Dylann Roof, who was also concerned, may have even read about some of that at WND.
Now WND is cranking up its concern for South African whites again.
Alex Newman — who likes to whitewash apartheid and the militancy of some white South Africans claiming to be victims — wrote a Feb. 25 WND column about the Suidlanders, “Western-minded Christians” who are “preparing for the worst”; It takes a few paragraphs before Newman admits that these are whites fearing persecution by the black majority. Despite Newman’s portrayal of the group as primarily a “Christian organization,” it appears that the Suidlanders are just right-wing preppers heavily into fearmongering.
Newman once again whitewashes apartheid to portray the current situation as much worse: “During the apartheid era, there were fewer than 20 race-based laws. Today, more than 100 race-based laws discriminating against whites have been created under the guise of ’empowering’ blacks.”
Newman then writes:
The result has been hundreds of thousands of whites excluded from the labor market, living in squatter camps that have recently been garnering international media attention.
Estimates suggest as much as 10 percent of the white population is now living in squatter camps, with one analyst classing it an “economic genocide.”
There are approximately 4.5 million whites in South Africa, which would mean that, according to Newman, there are more than 400,000 whites living in squatter camps. In fact, according to the nonpartisan Africa Check, less than 8,000 white households in the country are living in “shacks, informal settlements, caravans or tents.”
Further, as CNN notes, unemployment among whtes remains the lowest of all ethnic groups in South Africa.
Newman’s column was followed by an anonymously written March 11 WND article that called on “international journalist Alex Newman” to complain about how “scandal-plagued South African president Jacob Zuma recently called for the unity of black parties to allow the expropriation, literally theft, of white-owned land without compensation.” Newman doesn’t explain that doing so would require a change in the South African constitution, so it’s not as easy as he suggests.
We don’t dispute that Zuma may very well be a bad, corrupt leader — heck, “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah admits as much. But Noah also notes that Donald Trump has indicated a Zuma-esque approach to running America, something Newman and WND probably won’t want to discuss.
Then, on March 12, Barbara Simpson devoted her WND column to ranting about “white genocide” in South Africa. She concludes with this:
Dr. Gregory Stanton, with Genocide Watch, speaks openly about genocide, what leads to it and how to determine when it’s actually taking place
He said it’s difficult to convince countries outside of South Africa because of our emotional attachment to Nelson Mandela and a resistance to speak openly about what’s really happening in that country – a world record murder rate, more than 100,000 white murders, torture deaths of white farmers, 95 percent black-on-white murder rate and the world’s highest rape rate.
That’s not in your local news.
Dr. Stanton was specific about the terror among South African whites and that they can’t depend on police or government protection.
He spoke of the line of defense against such racial violence, saying “it’s local – the local courts, the political system. Do everything you can legally to draw attention to it.”
And then he said: “For God’s sake, don’t disarm. Do not disarm.”
He spoke of the Second Amendment in our Constitution and that “the founders recognized that the final defense against tyranny is self-defense.”
“Despite any laws passed – do not disarm.”
He said, “No matter what the government ignores … you (the people) must fight back to stop this kind of apartheid.”
It’s unclear where Simpson got her “100,000 white murders” claim from, but Africa Check reports that it may have originated by a South African musician, Steve Hofmeyr, who claimed that the number of white South Africans killed by blacks would fill a soccer stadium — and is wrong. Africa Check points out that while South Africa does have a crime problem, whites are still much less likely to be murdered than other ethnicities. The number of whites murdered in South Africa between 1994 and 2012 may be as low as 6,498, and the rate of black-on-white murder is far lower than the “95 percent” Simpson claims.
One more thing: While Genocide Watch’s Stanton has expressed concern about events in South Africa, he has explicitly stated that “white genocide” is not happening there now. The quotes Simpson attributes to Stanton seem unusually strident for him compared with other things he has written about South Africa, and a Google search turned up no original source for them.
We’ve contacted Genocide Watch to see if they will verify these quotes. We’ll let you know if they respond.