Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation chairperson Supra Mahumapelo has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to continue his efforts for “healthy and meaningful relations” between South Africa and US.

This after 59 white South Africans arrived in the US on Monday as the first batch of Afrikaners to be granted “refugee status” in by US President Donald Trump on the belief that they have been persecuted and could potentially have their land confiscated.

Mahumapelo said these claims were “unfounded” and had been dismissed out of hand since they were first spread in the US by disgruntled white South Africans.

He expressed shock at the development, saying what was even more concerning was the “fallacious and unfounded” stories on which the refugee status had been granted.

“…it is regrettable that the US still believes this to the extent of granting these Afrikaner South Africans refugee status,” he said.

Mahumapelo said it was concerning that this development had occurred while Ramaphosa worked to repair the “damage” caused by “unpatriotic South African Afrikaners”, who sought assistance from the US over land and education policies.

He echoed Ramaphosa words that those who had fled were not being persecuted or hounded, but rather they did not want to embrace the changes that were taking place in the country in accordance with the Constitution.

Mahumapelo pointed to the controversial Expropriation Bill signed by Ramaphosa, noting that government had not expropriated any property so far.

The Bill had been met with criticism from some opposition parties and civil society, which led to Trump terminating all United States Agency for International Development aid to South Africa.