Former ANC MP Lawrence E McDonald has taken up refugee resettlement status in the US.
The white politician is among over 5 000 South Africans – primarily Afrikaner farmers – who have left the country on the grounds of “racial persecution”.
The outspoken retired politician – who left the party in 2024 – now uses his social media platform to blast “ANC racial laws”. Last year, he made headlines after he was evicted from a subsidised parliamentary home, despite no longer being in office.
FORMER ANC MP TAKES UP REFUGEE STATUS
On his X account, Lawrence E McDonald revealed that he had arrived in the US on Friday, 1 May, which is celebrated as Freedom Day in South Africa under the refugee resettlement programme.
The significance of the public holiday was not lost on the former ANC MP.
He posted: “A day meant to celebrate liberation became the day I finally stepped into my own. Leaving the country of my birth was not easy. It was painful, heartbreaking, and symbolic. I walked away from a place I loved deeply, but where daily life had become a struggle for safety, dignity, and opportunity. As the plane lifted off, I felt the weight of years of frustration, fear, and disappointment.
Tagging President Trump, McDonald claimed that he had “left behind a system that had stopped serving its people. A government that had forgotten the meaning of freedom, and a reality where hope was becoming harder to hold onto”.
McDonald claimed he felt “welcome…safe…human” in his new adoptive country.
He vowed to work hard and “rebuild my life with dignity” as a refugee.
He added: “The kindness I’ve received, the respect, the sense of order and opportunity… it’s overwhelming in the best way.
“Today, on a day that South Africa calls Freedom Day, I found my freedom in America”.
FOR THE LOVE OF FREEBIES?
Lawrence E McDonald’s new chapter in the US as a refugee comes a year after a GroundUp investigation revealed that he was one of four former MPs who refused to vacate their heavily subsidised housing, despite no longer being in cabinet.
McDonald served as an ANC MP between 2019 and 2024. During that time, he was also a member of the Portfolio Committee On Transport.
The publication claimed that McDonald had told the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure that he was receiving treatment for an illness and asked for more time to move out, but then failed to do so.
McDonald paid next to nothing for accommodation at a parliamentary village in Cape Town – which also boasted free lights and water – where heavily subsidised rentals cost less than R500 per month.
The MPs were served eviction notices.
INCREASED INTAKE
Meanwhile, Reuters reported last week that the Trump administration is planning to significantly increase its intake of white South African refugees.
Last year, the White House announced a 7 500 cap on refugees for its next fiscal year (October 2025 – September 2026). However, earlier this month, government intel revealed that almost 5 000 South Africans have already taken up refugee status in the US.
The news agency claimed that officials are reportedly planning to increase the intake to 10,000 to “allow more South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity to obtain refugee status”.
