Brandon Huntley is the South African who was granted asylum in Canada because of the violent persecution he claims he faced for being white.

He believes the SA government is "disgusted" with him for "telling it like it is".

"I've opened people's eyes," 31-year-old Brandon Huntley told The Star on Tuesday.

But Ottawa resident Huntley does not want to talk about his potentially precedent-setting court application because he fears the consequences his family, still living in South Africa, might face.

He also is adamant that he will not talk to the South African government about his successful refugee status application, in which he claimed he was attacked seven times - including three stabbings - by blacks during attempted robberies and muggings when he lived in the country.

"I refuse to talk to the government," he said.

During the alleged attacks, Huntley told the refugee board, he was called "a white dog" and "a settler" - a reference to South Africa's colonial past based on apartheid. He never reported the attacks to the police.

Despite his self-admitted fear of returning to South Africa, Huntley's Facebook profile reveals that he is a passionate Springbok rugby supporter and a member of the "South African Braai Network".

Listing his religious views as "Brandonism", Huntley is also a member of the "Booty calls, I love booty calls" group.

While several of his friends have posted messages of support on his Facebook wall, they are also vocal in their support of him on multiple blogs - in which one of Huntley's Canadian friends claimed he had suffered deeply in order to stay in Canada.

According to "Halle", who did not give her surname, Huntley worked longer than 12-hour days for low pay and "spent an entire Canadian winter with no heat in his basement apartment".

"When you hear the passion in his voice when he speaks of SA, of the beautiful views, the fabulous weather, the ocean, the surf, the Springboks, the braais, his friends and family ...

"He is not a man who hates his country. He hates that nothing is being done to right the situation.

"What pains me is the sadness in his eyes when he tells you of innocent people having their land taken away, being murdered, raped, babies tortured and left for dead, while the government turns a blind eye.

"What man in their right mind would want to have a life and raise a family in such uncertainty and fear?"

South African authorities and human rights groups have slammed a Canadian decision to grant asylum to Huntley.

The board's panel chairman, William Davis, found that Huntley "was a victim because of his race rather than a victim of criminality".

Davis said: "The evidence... shows a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness of the government and the security forces to protect white South Africans from persecution by African South Africans."

Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said the finding was "absolute rubbish" and based on racism.

"There is absolutely no basis for awarding (Huntley) refugee status. Quite clearly (the allegations) are aimed at punishing the image of the South African people in general and black people in particular."

Department of International Relations and Co-operation spokeswoman Nomfanelo Kota said the government was never contacted by the Immigration and Refugee Board.

"It would have been courteous for the Canadian government to contact us to allow the South African government to respond to the allegations."

But IRB spokesman Stephane Malepart said the board was "an independent tribunal that operates at arm's length from the Canadian government. Its decision-makers are not subject to outside influence, and make decisions solely on the basis of evidence presented at the refugee hearing".

Having reviewed Davis's findings, Kate Lefko-Everette from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation said it was important to recognise that "as a person who felt he faced persecution, Huntley was within his rights to apply for asylum in Canada".

Also, Canada was acting within its sovereign rights in granting him asylum.

The South African Institute of Race Relations said Huntley's claims were "largely without foundation".

"The institute notes the claim that white South Africans are specifically targeted by violent criminals... the institute found no evidence that there is a general pattern of racial attacks... Rather while SA is a very violent society, the vast majority of victims of crime are black," the institute said.

The Freedom Front Plus's Pieter Groenewald said Huntley's acquisition of asylum status should be seen as a call for help by victims of crime . "It places a great responsibility on the government to change it, or else there will be more such cases," he said.

Braam Hanekom, chairman of the refugee lobby group Passop (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty), called the decision "amazing, outstanding and insulting".

The ANC on Tuesday called the outcome of Huntley's case "racist".

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