US imposes travel curbs on South African officials over anti-white claims
The Trump administration has announced travel restrictions on South African officials it says are responsible for discrimination against whites and other minority groups. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would revoke visas or reject visa applications from foreign nationals found to be responsible for, or complicit in, laws and policies that allow uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination and the incitement of violence against minority ethnic and racial groups in South Africa.
The move is the latest step by Washington against South Africa over claims that whites, particularly Afrikaners, are being discriminated against by the Black-led government. Pretoria has strongly rejected those allegations as baseless and driven by misinformation, while saying some of the policies criticised by the US are meant to address injustices from apartheid and colonial rule.
In a statement, Rubio said, "The United States will not allow such behaviour to go unchecked. These actions directly undermine peace, economic stability, and the rule of law, and they are incompatible with the pillars of America's foreign policy." He did not identify any officials who would be targeted by the travel restrictions, though a lobby group for minority whites in South Africa has previously called on the US to sanction officials of the African National Congress, the party of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the largest in Parliament.
The Trump administration has cited a contentious South African law that allows the expropriation of unused private land without compensation in some circumstances, affirmative action policies that advance opportunities for Blacks and others, and a small number of violent crimes against white farmers as evidence of a wider anti-white stance. Afrikaners are descended mainly from Dutch and French colonial settlers who first arrived in South Africa in the 17th century, and they were at the centre of the country's apartheid system of racial segregation. South Africa has about 4.5 million white people in a population of 62 million, including whites of British and other heritage.
Washington has also strongly criticised South Africa's move to accuse US ally Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a case at the United Nations' top court, an allegation Israel denies. During Trump's second term, the US has also barred South African officials from Group of 20 meetings in the US this year, started phasing out aid for South Africa's HIV treatment programme, and launched a refugee programme for Afrikaners and other whites, saying they are victims of a humanitarian emergency in South Africa.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Wednesday that some of the domestic policies branded discriminatory by the US were designed to address the injustices of apartheid and the hundreds of years of colonial rule before that, when Black people were stripped of their rights. "South Africa respects that the United States may hold differing views on certain policy measures and their implementation... The people of South Africa likewise respect the right of the American people to develop legislation that addresses their own circumstances," Lamola said in a statement. "We expect that the same respect will be accorded to the people of South Africa, as the principle of sovereignty requires."
The US has said the sanctions are being imposed because South Africa has not changed its policies and has warned of further action. Referring to Rubio's announcement, the official US ambassador to South Africa account on X said, "This visa restriction policy is only the first step in a series of escalatory measures that will show America's firm resolve in this matter."
With visa restrictions now announced and Washington warning of more measures, the dispute between the US and South Africa has deepened, with both sides standing by their sharply different positions on Pretoria's policies and the US allegations of discrimination against white minorities.
