On March 3, Tucker Carlson, an American political commentator popular among MAGA conservatives and the global far right, held an odd and disturbing interview with South African right-wing activist and deputy CEO of Afriforum, Ernst Roets. Afriforum is a right-wing South African NGO dedicated to advancing the interests of Afrikaners –  descendants of mainly Dutch colonial settlers who formalised the segregationist system of apartheid in 1948.

The discussion, titled “Man charged with treason for speaking to Tucker about the killing of whites in South Africa,” lasted more than an hour and featured a dangerous mix of conspiratorial perspectives, inaccuracies, half-truths and blatant lies.

Carlson, ever the debauched provocateur, commenced the lengthy conversation with the ludicrous claim that South Africa “appears to be collapsing and that the government is essentially genocidally racist”.

The idea that South Africa’s government is racist and committing a “genocide” against the country’s white minority is of course not new. For many years, white activists, including US President Donald Trump’s billionaire special adviser Elon Musk, have alleged that South Africa’s government is trying to rid the country of its white minorities, and that the murders of white farmers there – which make up no more than 1 percent of all murders in the country every year – amount to “genocide”.

Trump also promotes this narrative and announced his decision to cut off aid to South Africa and offer refugee status to Afrikaners over such concerns on February 7. A month later, he upgraded this offer and opened up an expedited path to........

© Al Jazeera