Rasool Questions If 'refugee' Afrikaners Should Have Right Of Return, Dual Citizenship

South Africas former ambassador to the United States US, Ebrahim Rasool, says the country should have a debate on whether Afrikaners who take up refugee status in the US should have a right of return or dual citizenship.

Earlier this month, a group of 49 Afrikaners arrived in the US after accepting President Donald Trumps resettlement offer.

The offer is based on widely debunked claims of persecution against the minority group. South Africa has also disputed their designation as refugees, arguing that they do not meet the threshold as set out in international law.

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika on Tuesday 27 May, Rasool suggested that there should be consequences for people who perpetuate false claims about South Africa.

If Afrikaners insist on making a false, defamatory case against South Africa, if they accept US citizenship, I think we should have a serious debate about what is the status of those who accept that, he said.

Do they have the right of return, even to visit their family here? Do they have the right to have property given the fact that they are down and out apparently, according to the definition of a refugee?

Do they have the right to dual citizenship if they hostilely forfeit South Africa? Those are public debates we must have, if only to prevent further examples of such defamation that has a devastating impact - in their instance, a billion-rand worth of aid was wiped out because of such defamatory behaviour.

Rasool added that South Africa must prevent treasonable action by individuals or groups who go to a foreign power and invite their interference in the countrys internal affairs.

Citizenship cant be a commodity that could simply be based on a flimsy idea of kumbaya, we are all South Africans, lets tolerate this, lets lose a billion in trade and well have a national conversation with people, he argued.

Impunity is already in some abundance in South Africa. We certainly cannot have impunity from very privileged citizens in our country. Therefore, the national conversation also has to have a hard edge about what is the price to pay for such defamation.