Persecuted, Afraid, and Desperate – They Say Trump’s America Is Their Only Hope!

A South African farming couple, targeted and terrorized because of their race, are desperate to leave their homeland and start anew in the United States under former President Donald Trump’s refugee policy.

Zenia and Ludwich Pretorius, longtime farmers in South Africa, say their lives have become a nightmare. Repeated attacks, racial threats, and a government that turns a blind eye have forced them off their land. Now, they are clinging to the hope that Trump’s executive order will allow them to seek refuge in America.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I burst into tears of joy when Trump came into office,” Zenia, 46, told The Post from Polokwane, where her family has been living in fear since August.

The couple, along with their three children—ages 13, 12, and 9—are eager to leave. “We are ready to go, and the kids are ready to go … My daughter knows which sports she wants to do—we are ready to go tomorrow,” Zenia said.

Their ordeal is part of a larger crisis. A controversial law allowing land expropriation without compensation looms over South Africa. Though it hasn’t taken effect, it echoes the disastrous land grabs in Zimbabwe during the 1980s, which led to that country’s economic collapse.

For the Pretorius family, violence and intimidation have been growing for years. They purchased their farm in 2002, a 7,400-acre property bordering the Taaibos settlement, about 175 miles north of Johannesburg.

Over time, they dealt with illegal trespassing, poaching, and theft—crimes that went largely ignored by local authorities. Cattle rustlers eventually made raising livestock impossible, forcing them to shift to onion and potato farming. But the worst was yet to come.

“The s–t really hit the fan in July 2024,” Zenia said.

The family was in the final stages of selling their farm. Just days before the contract was set to close, chaos erupted. “On the 6th of July, they cut our border fence between the farm and the Taaibos area. A [3.8-mile] border fence completely cut up into little bits. So they could send in their cattle that should not be grazing on our side.”

A sign left behind made their intentions clear: “We want our own land back.”

At first, police intervened, impounding the intruding cattle. But this only fueled tensions. Soon, messages spread among locals, demanding not just their cattle but also the farm itself.

When the Pretorius family sent workers to repair the fence, they were met with brutal resistance. Locals beat them with sticks and held three workers hostage for hours.

“It got loud, it got rowdy, it got verbally violent, they started to threaten to burn down my farm. I was there with my kids and I saw a crowd was gathering,” Zenia recalled. People chanted old apartheid-era songs calling for white farmers to be killed.

“They were screaming all kinds of slurs and racist remarks and singing ‘kill the farmer’ and ‘kill the Boer.’”

With their property overrun, the farm sale fell through. Without that money, the Pretorius family couldn’t pay their debts. Their land is now set for auction—though Zenia suspects it will simply be absorbed into the neighboring settlement.

Financially drained, Ludwich took a job working for another farmer. Zenia started a small business selling freeze-dried candy. But even daily errands have become dangerous.

“I was in a grocery store, it was just me and my daughter and amongst probably 60 or 70 people around us—and this guy says I want to f—k my white ass, just out of the blue,” she said. “My daughter refuses to go to the shops with me.”

The situation is unbearable. “Staying here is not an option,” Zenia said.

As they fight for a way out, the couple hopes Trump’s policy will give them the lifeline they so desperately need. They are ready to leave everything behind in pursuit of safety, stability, and a future free from fear.