This is a story from Ireland to follow-up the earlier story from Canada, here, about white South Africans seeking asylum and claiming persecution in the “rainbow nation.”
Dianne Jefferson (22), who moved to Ireland to live with her father when she was 14, was turned down for a resident’s visa even though she was married to an Irishman. She appealed to the Dublin High Court for permission to stay in the country, stating in her affidavit: “I say and believe that as a white South African there is a real possibility of criminal racial discrimination against me and I fear for my well-being and ultimately my life if I am returned.”
The judge granted her an injunction stopping immigration authorities from deporting her, and she has now been given a five-year residency visa.
The South African government is not too happy with the trend.
“This is untrue and inaccurate to suggest that crime is racially motivated and that a particular section of the South African society is more likely to be exposed to crime than any other,” the department said. “The South African government has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to provide safety and security to all South Africans, black and white, and not only to a select section of its population.”
The department went on: “The applicant’s unsubstantiated claims and suggestions are nothing but an attempt to tarnish the integrity of all South Africans, black and white, and to damage the country’s reputation.
“While South Africa faces many developmental challenges, insinuations that crime is racially based are inaccurate.”
I might actually agree with the South African government on one point (well, sort of anyway). I haven’t written about the subject for awhile but it seemed that all that terrorizing and killing that had been going on in South Africa in recent years wasn’t racial because it was mostly black on black terrorizing. Here is my most recent post on how Somalis trying to escape the persecution by South African blacks were caught, and returned.