A group of Afrikaners, Afrikaners for SA (AfSA), has criticized Lex Libertas, a Pretoria-based think tank, for planting 3,000 white crosses on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The crosses were planted to honor farm murder victims in South Africa. AfSA said the organizers are using the victims as political props to advance a private agenda. The group condemned farm killings and all violence against farming communities, saying victims deserve justice and survivors need support.
Lex Libertas, run by former AfriForum deputy CEO Ernst Roets, organized the White Cross Project to raise awareness about farm murders in South Africa. The group said the project aimed to build international support for practical solutions to farm murders, political incitement, and threats facing minority communities in SA. The crosses were planted on Friday and were set to remain until 5 pm on Saturday. Videos showed volunteers marking out rows and knocking the crosses into the ground with rubber mallets.
AfSA expressed concern that the display would give Americans a misleading picture of South Africa and deepen racial divisions at home. The group cited research showing that farm attacks were driven mainly by robbery and other criminal motives, not a coordinated campaign of racial persecution. However, AfSA did not rule out racial hatred in some individual attacks. The group questioned what the spectacle would achieve for those still living with the threat of violence.
AfSA took aim at Lex Libertas' political goal, saying the organization had openly tied the crosses to its push for American support for white self-governance. The group said that political ambition deserves scrutiny on its own merits and that the deaths of farm victims cannot serve as a mandate for it. AfSA also expressed concern that the display would hand the US campaign fresh ammunition ahead of the American midterm elections.
Lex Libertas presented the project with the New York Young Republican Club and screened a documentary, Crossed Out: Confronting Persecution in SA, at a closed event at the White House on Thursday. The audience included White House and State Department staff and three people affected by farm attacks. According to Lex Libertas, the goal was to ensure that the realities facing people and communities in SA are heard directly by those in positions to influence policy.
International relations minister Ronald Lamola rejected claims of a white genocide, saying the story of white genocide does not exist and is fake news. Police recorded one farm murder between April and June this year, down from six in the same three months of 2025. Over the same three months, 5,427 people were murdered across the country. The history of farm murders in the country has always been distorted and reported in an unbalanced way, according to the then police minister Senzo Mchunu.
The controversy surrounding the white crosses has sparked a heated debate about farm murders and racial tensions in South Africa. AfSA said Lex Libertas does not speak for all Afrikaners or all South Africans and that South Africans should not pay the price for a small faction's political point-scoring and fundraising in America. The incident has highlighted the complexities of the issue and the need for a nuanced understanding of the situation.
Key points
- - Afrikaners for SA (AfSA) criticizes Lex Libertas for using farm murder victims as political props. - Lex Libertas aims to build international support for practical solutions to farm murders and threats facing minority communities in SA. - The controversy has sparked a heated debate about farm murders and racial tensions in South Africa.
