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US limits visas for South African officials over alleged anti-white discrimination
Confirmed
In Short: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new visa restrictions targeting South Africans involved in race-based discrimination, land confiscation, and incitement of violence against minority groups, according to reports.
The policy follows a long-standing dispute between the US and South Africa over post-apartheid racial justice policies, with the US accusing the South African government of 'government-sponsored discrimination' against Afrikaners and other minorities.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected claims of white persecution and called for international efforts to counter false narratives about the treatment of white South Africans, while the US has offered refuge to white South Africans fleeing 'persecution' under the Trump administration.
The announcement comes amid a downward spiral in US-South African relations, with the US cutting aid, expelling the South African ambassador, and launching a special program allowing thousands of Afrikaners to settle in the US.
The visa restrictions are part of a broader US strategy to address what it deems as racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination in South Africa, despite the South African government's rejection of such allegations.
What's confirmed
- He said the visa restrictions would target those who promote "race-based discrimination, incite violence, or enable land confiscation without compensation in South Africa." Rubio did not immediately name any individuals targeted by the restrictions.
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- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the policy on Tuesday, saying it would apply to individuals responsible for or involved in implementing laws that allow uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination or the incitement of imminent violence against minority ethnic or racial groups.
- The order said the US was “gravely concerned” about what it described as racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination against Afrikaners and other minority groups, citing race-based legislation, threats of land expropriation without compensation and the incitement of racial violence through “dehumanising chants and slogans”.
- The US has imposed visa restrictions on foreign nationals it holds responsible for — or says are complicit in — South African laws and policies it says enable race-based discrimination, uncompensated land seizures and the incitement of violence against minority groups.
- Relations between the two countries have been on a downward spiral since President Donald Trump returned to office early last year, with the US leader cutting aid, expelling the South African ambassador and offering "refuge" to white South Africans fleeing "persecution." The South African government has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is persecuting white people or confiscating their land.
- "The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement announcing the restrictions on Tuesday.
- Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners last year after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a law allowing the government to seize land without compensation in rare instances.
What's still developing
- It said claims of a white genocide had been widely discredited and lacked reliable evidence.
- White South Africans typically have 20 times the wealth of Black people, according to a 2023 article in the Review of Political Economy, an economic journal.
- The government has maintained that there is no evidence of systematic discrimination against white citizens and has said narratives of white persecution undermine the country’s post-apartheid unity, sovereignty and diplomatic relations.
- The US has announced new visa restrictions targeting South Africans accused of promoting racial discrimination, inciting violence or enabling land confiscation.
- Ties between the two nations have nosedived since Trump took office last year, with the US leader cutting aid, expelling the South African ambassador and offering "refuge" to white South Africans fleeing "persecution". While the US president has broadly cracked down on immigration, he launched a special program under which thousands of Afrikaners have been allowed to settle in the United States. South Africa said last month it would offer a "generous" new trade deal to the United States as it seeks to avoid hefty tariffs that threaten job losses on top of a dire unemployment crisis.
- The US embassy in Pretoria said Washington believed dialogue with South Africa had run its course and accused the African country of failing to demonstrate a commitment to strong bilateral relations.
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- "It is a boom by African standards," he said.