(Ret.) Col Chris Wyatt: Farm murder “cover up”, refugee arrivals - and “consequences” warning to the GNU

In his latest interview with BizNews, US intelligence analyst, retired Colonel Chris Wyatt charges that the farm murder last week of a close friend's stepfather has been categorised as a house robbery instread of a farm attack. “This is why crime statistics in South Africa are not trustworthy…They cover this up.” Giving an update on the two groups of refugees in America, he said the outing of many people from the first group - that in fact included a Coloured family - had resulted in death threats against their family members, and their property being jeopardised back in South Africa. Colonel Wyatt expresses outrage at Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean McPherson of the Democratic Alliance (DA) “who cackled like a hyena when Ramaphosa told the joke about the lights being dimmed and mocking President Trump”. He has this warning: “I think that the ruling Government of National Unity (GNU) thinks there's no consequences for their actions. And I think they're going to be sadly disappointed very soon.” Colonel Wyatt also gives his take on the relationship between Trump and South African-born billionaire Elon Musk following his departure from the White House..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..Watch here.Listen here.Edited transcript of the interview .Chris Steyn (00:01.996)The Afrikaner trek to America remains a trending topic across the world. We speak to US intelligence analyst, retired Colonel Chris Wyatt. Welcome, Colonel.Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (00:15.141)Chris, thanks a lot. It's a pleasure to be chatting with you once again. Boy, this story seems to have legs. People still want to talk about it.Chris Steyn (00:23.522)Well, the second group of refugees has arrived in the United States. What can you tell us about them?Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (00:31.781)Well, this was done a lot more cleverly in my view than the first group. Somebody leaked the information, unfortunately, and it's led to the outing of many people and death threats against their family members, their property being jeopardised back in South Africa. They've been rubbished by the president of South Africa. And as I said, some people received death threats and their families are being threatened in South Africa. This time around, it was much smarter in my view. So a number of people came over and arrived on Friday this past week in the United States and went to their ultimate destinations. Now, because I've been honest and I've not abused anyone's trust, some of the refugees have been in touch with me and I was aware this group was going to land and I announced it after they had arrived in their ultimate destination. They've arrived there, they're in temporary housing, they'll move into these groups of people move into their permanent, well, permanent, where they're going to live for the near future very shortly. But what's happening is that they're arriving, they put them in temporary housing because past experience with other refugees from around the world is that many of refugees are so desperate to get out of living in camps in Kenya or in Thailand that they'll say anything, I'll go wherever you want me, only to find out later on that they have family living in Mississippi or New York or somewhere like that. And then they pick up and move and they lose their support structure because we hire non-government organisations to provide refugee services such as job assistance, translation, interpreters, housing, all the sorts of services people need when they arrive, understanding how bills work, how banks work, getting Social Security numbers. All of that is a service provided by non-government organisations funded by the US government. And these people in the past have picked up and left. So what they do now is the Refugee Resettlement Program, they put people in temporary housing when they arrive, just to make sure they arrive okay, and they get acclimated for a couple of weeks, and then they move them into an apartment or house that they found that's available for them.So these folks are adjusting to the six hour time delay, as you can imagine, you. know, a little bit of that jet lag and they're getting accustomed. I have indications that at least one family wants to talk to me, but I haven't heard back in the last couple of days. And if they don't want to talk, that's their prerogative. I'm not here to exploit them just to share their stories to reassure other people. And as I predicted all along in this situation, Chris, this was, you know, the people have gotten wrapped around the axle. Oh, it was a charter flight. US pay for charter flight. By the way, the US government didn't pay for that charter flight.Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (02:50.958)A private donor paid for that entire flight, booked that aircraft and flew it to South Africa at their own expense. So the US government would normally send people on commercial flights unless they're evacuating from war zone. This isn't a war zone. So these people came on a commercial flight. And I think that's why a lot of the news media were caught off guard. And they didn't even report this until the following Monday when they came back to work. Like, look, refugees have gone. And ironically, I noticed a lot of the media in South Africa, the traditional media are actually reporting my reports, which is, I think, comical. That's how disconnected they are from what's going on and desperate to tell the story. But I'm grateful that they found my news reports and they found it useful.Chris Steyn (03:29.646)Chris, what about the members of the first group? Do you know how they are adapting?Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (03:37.005)Well, from what I've seen and from those I've been in touch with, they're adapting very well. The key sticking point for all of them when they arrive was, of course, getting a Social Security number. Unfortunately, in America, if you don't have a Social Security number, there's very little you can do legally. You can't get a job. You can't open a bank account. You can't purchase things. You can't sign a lease agreement for a house or an apartment. So you can't get a loan, obviously. So that's the key thing. And that was the first step for many of them in the first two weeks. I haven't confirmed if they've all gotten their Social Security numbers that I've been in touch with, but I suspect by now they've gotten Social Security numbers. Even our least efficient government agencies manage to get things done in two weeks usually. So I suspect they've got their Social Security numbers, but they are adjusting well.I know that at least one location there was a braai over the weekend. South Africans are bringing their cultural standards to America.But we've got like 120,000 South African citizens that live in the United States, live and work over here, many on long-term Green cards, and others also short-term farming visas, things like that. So it's not unusual to have South Africans in America. So there are people they can reach out to that have already adjusted who are actually in the States. I think they seem to be doing very well, especially kids. The kids are really adjusting well. I think the biggest astounding thing for every single family I've talked to is where are the walls? Where's the wire, the razor wire? I can just walk around. They're just in awe that it's safe to walk around. Now, we've got dangerous places in America, urban centres, but basically speaking, most of country is safe. You don't have to worry about people attacking you at night, coming to your property. So they're excited about that and their kids are actually, one of the groups, Jan en Marietjie, when I interviewed them, those were pseudonyms, not actually their names, they had a place on their farm where their kids could only go from this spot to this spot and they marked it with poles and flags to identify where they could safely be so the parents could see them so that nothing happened to them and they, you know, be killed or taken. And so here in the States, their kids go to local park and it's perfectly fine. I mean, they're old enough, they're not six-year-olds, you these kids a little bit older than that. So it's okay for them to go to the park and they're safe. So I think they're adapting very well from my perspective, but look, it's not painless.Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (05:45.241)People will pine and miss home. That's where they grew up. That's in their blood. That's who they are. Everything isn't always roses. Things are more expensive. You have to get accustomed to that. Also, we drive on the correct side of the road, not the wrong side of the road. So they have to get used to that. That's people getting in the wrong side of the car and hitting the turn indicator where they mean to hit the wiper. But that happens to all of us when we switch back and forth between Anglophone and the rest of the world. So I think they're doing well.Chris Steyn (06:10.956)Great. Now, do you know how many people in total have applied thus far for Trump's Afrikaner or Minority Refugee Programme?Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (06:19.972)The only data point…Thank you for pointing that out, Chris. I appreciate that because virtually no media in South Africa is telling the truth. First off, in the first group of 59, it wasn't all white Afrikaners. There was a Coloured family in there and they failed to report that. Not a single media outlet that I've seen in South Africa has bothered to report that or the US yet that there was…maybe the New York Times might have mentioned it in the most recent report…, but no one's reporting on that. They keep talking about farmers and why farmers shouldn't go and everyone suffers in crime. Yeah, so in that first group, there were 59.The second group, I know the numbers, but that's not something I'm sharing because that kind of gets to the point of undermining the safety and security of people's in the programme. You know, it's as we say in the military, Operational Security, OPSEC. And so I think that that's important to protect the OPSEC of people so that they don't become targets. You know, there are just other people showing up at the airport. We did see some anecdotal evidence that something strange happened at the airport. And I don't know if this was just a case of a bitter airport person working at the check-in counter or what happened. It's never happened to me in South Africa. I've always had great experience with the FlySafair folks, the AirLink folks, the Delta folks, United folks, Lufthansa Air France. I've never had a problem ever in the hundreds of times I've been in South Africa. But there was an instance of one of these families, they had packed their bags and they ensured that they were under the weight, the 23 kgs, which is allowed on commercial flight. And when they arrived, suddenly their bag was over the limit and they were supposed to pay like $100 US dollars for the bag. And that doesn't make any sense, and they realised, they looked and they saw that someone's knee was on the scale pushing it down. So that's, look, that's, that happens in some place around the world. So just a word of advice to those coming over, just pay attention, make sure that, I mean, this could happen to anybody anytime. I don't know that it had anything to do with refugees. Maybe it did, but also they were kind of, the one family is kind of being harassed a little bit by the check-in folks, which is odd. But there was a U.S. Embassy employee with identification that was available to make sure they got checked in, got through the check-in through security and then until after they left in the air, there was embassy employees staying at the airport. So I think that should reassure future refugees who want to come over that you're going to have that help and escort. And it'll be nondescript. It's not like they're running around with big signs going, we're from the US Embassy here to protect the refugees. So I just thought I'd share that anecdotal story.Chris Steyn (08:32.589)So what is the biggest piece of advice you can give those who still want to go?Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (08:38.488)Well, patience and I realised just now Chris, I didn't answer your last question. You asked what's the number. We don't actually have that. We don't. I didn't answer it. Sorry. We don't actually. I got down a rabbit hole telling that story. We don't actually have a number. The only data point we have as far as how many statements of interest have been filled out is Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before the Senate on I think unrelated matters. The question came up in last week. He said 70,000. Now, if that's true, that would be from May 12th when the programme opened, when I was sitting at OR Tambo…Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (09:07.3)…at Wimpy eating breakfast, that's when the programme opened and I announced it, May 12th until last week, so in late May. So in just two weeks, 70,000 statements of interest. Now bear in mind, that's head of household, okay? Some of that's one person in the household, some of that's seven people in household. So we don't know the actual number, but that's the figure that he gave. And to me, that's a shockingly astoundingly high number, particularly given the way that media have been rubbishing the programme and politicians have been dismissing it and people have been attacked for showing any interest in the program. So your next question, what was the next one?Chris Steyn (09:35.758)Actually, I want to ask you what you have made of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s utterances since his return from Washington.Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (09:46.019)Well, I'm very disappointed in President Ramaphosa. I made a video before I left South Africa when I was in the Western Cape, because I'd seen that Rob Hersov had made a video imploring President Trump to take some action vis-a-vis South Africa to improve the situation. I made a video imploring the South African delegation to not do certain things when they went to the U.S., including lecture Donald Trump. And that's exactly what they did. They did all the things I asked them not to do. So I'm incredibly disappointed the actions of President Ramaphosa and also Dean McPherson from the Democratic Alliance who cackled like a hyena when Ramaphosa told the joke about the lights being dimmed and mocking President Trump. Dean McPherson thought it was funny. To the credit of the security detail that was with President Ramaphosa and McPherson, they kept stone cold faces and that's what Dean McPherson should have done. It was inappropriate to laugh about the torture and murder of people that is so callously dismissed and President Ramaphosa then telling jokes about it when he was at the podium was really unfortunate. I'm very disappointed. I'd hoped that South Africa would take this seriously.But obviously the politicians in South Africa don't think that they need anything from the United States and they can say what they want and do what they want. And they're welcome to do that. South Africa is a sovereign country. But if you think it comes without consequences, then you're delusional. And I think that the ruling Government of National Unity thinks there's no consequences for their actions. And I think they're going to be sadly disappointed very soon.Chris Steyn (11:05.186)Now you and I watched that debate very, very carefully, but I have since seen some seriously distorted reports on that. Am I the only one?Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (11:13.188)When you say debate, you mean the conversation in the Oval Office…, yes? Yes, absolutely, Chris. And I have talked about this in the very beginning. First off, I cannot say that Donald Trump has never used the term White Genocide, because in fact, he did use it in a Truth Social post, and he was answering a question when he was angry, and he used the term. But generally speaking, he never used it previously, ever in the past, and it was just in recent. And when he went to the Oval Office, he was set up by a South African reporter who asked the question, President Trump,Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (11:42.671)..do you really believe that there's a White Genocide in South Africa? To which President Trump said the following, I'm not convinced of that. That's what his response was. He never used the term White Genocide once in that Oval Office meeting in public. We don't know what happened behind closed doors. We weren't there. But in public, before the world's cameras and every single media outlet and every single commentator and indeed today, Justice Malala with more lies, more distortions, more yellow journalism, more propaganda, lying about what Trump said. Trump never sued the term genocide. The term genocide is being used by the media in South Africa, by Western media to rubbish the suffering of racial minorities in South Africa and you know it's really disgusting to see the stance and what happened there because they're the ones. The term White Genocide I hear from the media, it doesn’t come from me, it doesn't come from people in the centre on the right, by large it comes from the media who stoke this and undermine the true suffering of people in South Africa. And Chris, I need to make this very clear. I think we've talked about this before. This programme does not exist because of a genocide. It doesn't exist because of crime. It doesn't exist because of farmers. The programme that President Trump created in his 7th February Executive Order is very clear. It's because of unjust racial discrimination. That's the bottom line here. Racist laws, which Dan Corder dismissed with a ridiculous argument of Piers Morgan, he looked like an idiot talking away that stuff.You know, it's an abomination what the press in South Africa doing, falsely reporting and misleading the world. Trump did not admonish and it wasn't an ambush. I mean, this is most comical thing. The South African government requested the meeting. Trump graciously rescheduled his calendar and made a meeting for them. And then Ramaphosa made Trump wait 30 minutes. The President of the United States was kept waiting for 30 minutes while Cyril Ramaphosa was on African time. Wow. And it was an ambush? It was an ambush. Was there anything that was shown in the video that didn't happen? Was it anything altered or doctored? Was it artifice? No, this is actual footage. These are actual words uttered. And if anything, Donald Trump did, did Julius Malema a huge favor, Chris, not just once. He did say he did. Cyril Ramaphosa a huge favor because he showed footage of people who aren't in the ruling government. People who are not part of the ANC. He gave Ramaphosa the ability to distance himself from it. And then.Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (13:59.653)He rudely interrupted the President of United States as a guest of the Oval Office when another South African reporter put a staged question, what will it take President Trump for President Ramaphosa to convince you there isn't a White Genocide? And rather than let Trump answer the question, which is what should have happened, Ramaphosa said, oh, I'll take this question. I'll take this question. And then he interrupts Trump. Trump says, OK, go ahead. So basically, Trump hands him the shovel, the spade, and Ramaphosa dug his own grave because then he began lecturing Trump. It will take the president listening. And there you go, lecturing President Trump. There isn't a single thing that's being refuted. It's just being called an ambush. There was no ambush. They knew this was coming. And if they didn't, they're stupid. I warned them. I'm sure their advisors warned them. Whoever briefs them warned them that this was going to happen. And they had no response other than the claim that he was ambushed and that it isn't happening. It's really sad to see, Chris.Chris Steyn (14:44.494)Before I forget, is there anything more to Elon Musk's departure from the White House or was his time just up, Chris?Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (14:58.878)Yes, and i want to say something else about a Brits attack if we can before we wrap up, but Elon Musk I said all along that this was a temporary 120-day appointment which the president could do under the law a special appointment. If he goes for something beyond that then he's going to have to go to the Senate for confirmation and that wasn't the intent; the intent was to set up a team that can identify fraud, waste and abuse or just you know poorly-spent money and that's what they didThere's no animosity. This was always the case. And I reported that the media on the Left was going to claim that there's a rift between the two of them. There's no rift, none whatsoever. The only thing that's happened here is that Elon Musk's business has been grievously harmed by people who've undermined them because their feelings are that he is finding fraud, waste, and abuse. And you have to understand that just like in South Africa, when you uncover fraud, waste, and abuse, somebody's profiting from that fraud, waste, and abuse. Somebody's getting that money. And when you take it away, their feelings are hurt. And if they're powerful, they'll try to destroy you. And that's what they tried to do to Elon Musk, but the man is rich beyond imagination. They can harm his businesses, but he'll be the wealthiest man on planet for the rest of his natural life, unless he starts going to Vegas and gambling. So there's no animosity between Trump. There's no animosity between Musk. In fact, he's gonna stay on as a Personal Advisor in an unofficial capacity. Which by the way, President Trump, I'm available if you're looking for personal advisor, at least on South African issues.Chris Steyn (16:13.388)There was something you wanted to bring up, Chris. What was that?Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (16:16.738)Yes, so. Excuse me there, Chris, I still got a little bit of the affliction I picked up in South Africa. It hasn't quite cleared, so it happens. You know, it's that we're humans that were susceptible to viruses. So anyway, there was a farm attack last week in Brits and unfortunately it's the mother and the stepfather of a dear friend of mine. They were savagely assaulted on that farm in Brits, beaten with an antique iron, tied up. He's an elderly wheelchair-bound man, tied up, they poisoned their dogs a few days before the attack. Then they stole the tires off their bakkies the next night. They couldn't escape or get away. And then they broke in at two o'clock in morning, tied up this elderly couple, beat them with inch of his life, and then left the scene, just taking a television. And that was about it so that it could be categorised as a house robbery. And the reason I mention this is how crime statistics are bogus in South Africa. So when the police came, I have a copy of the police report, It's reported as a house robbery. The man, they attempted to murder him and I have the sad news to tell you today that they did murder him. He died early this morning from the grievous assault that occurred last week. So now it's a case of murder. But the police in their crime statistics have listed as a house robbery, not a farm murder. And this is reprehensible. This is why crime statistics in South Africa are not trustworthy and why people should look at this with a jaded eye every time you hear somebody like Dan Corder or Justice Malala or a South African politician tell you that only, or Senzo Mchunu, the Police Commissioner, tell you that only one white farmer is murdered. They cover this up. That doesn't make white people special. Doesn't make black people any less important. All lives matter. All murders should be addressed. All should be reported. But this is being covered up and it's time that someone tell the truth and expose this. This is not a house robbery at a minimum. It was aggravated assault. It was trespassing. It was a home invasion and a robbery at a minimum. And now it's a murder case.Chris Steyn (18:11.512)Thank you. That was US Intelligence Analyst, retired Colonel Chris Wyatt speaking to BizNews. Thank you, Colonel. I'm Chris Steyn for BizNews.Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt (18:19.288)My pleasure, Chris.

(Ret.) Col Chris Wyatt: Farm murder “cover up”, refugee arrivals - and “consequences” warning to the GNU

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