JOHANNESBURG, June 6 (Xinhua) -- South African Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has confirmed that a commercial flight recently departed for the United States with white Afrikaners on board, under an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump granting them refugee status.

It was the second such flight to leave South Africa, following an earlier chartered flight that carried 49 Afrikaners who were designated as "refugees" by the Trump administration. "We are aware that there was a commercial flight that left with fewer people than the previous group," he said.

Addressing a media briefing in Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital, on Thursday, Magwenya reiterated the government's stance, denying that any citizens are being persecuted in the country because of their race, contrary to claims made by Trump and his former presidential advisor Elon Musk.

"There is a so-called persecution of people of a particular race in South Africa, which is not true. That narrative cannot be sustained in the absence of anything substantial that is placed on the table. The presidency or the South African government is not running any scheme," Magwenya said.

"We're on record saying there are no South African citizens that can be described as refugees under the true international law definition of what constitutes a refugee," he added.

Trump signed an executive order in February, granting refugee status to white Afrikaners and allowing them to come to the United States. His administration said white Afrikaners were being targeted and had their land seized, a claim the South African government has rejected as "misinformation." ■