The United States has announced a new visa restriction policy for South African nationals, citing allegations that the country’s Afrikaner minority is facing race-based discrimination. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the restrictions would target people who promote racial discrimination, incite violence or enable land confiscation without compensation.
Rubio said the South African government was damaging the economy through what he described as an “obsessive pursuit of racial grievance” against Afrikaners. He said the alleged conduct undermined peace, economic stability and the rule of law, and was incompatible with US foreign-policy principles.
The US ambassador to South Africa said on social media that the visa restrictions were “only the first step in a series of escalatory measures.” Rubio did not identify individuals who would immediately be affected, leaving the scope and initial enforcement of the policy unclear from the announcement.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa rejects allegations of discrimination against white people in the country. According to the supplied source, he has called for international efforts to counter what he describes as false narratives about white persecution.
The dispute adds to a broader deterioration in relations between Washington and Pretoria. The Trump administration has criticized South Africa’s land and employment laws, which Pretoria says are intended to address inequalities that persist three decades after apartheid. The source also reports that Donald Trump confronted Ramaphosa over claims of “white genocide,” imposed high tariffs, boycotted a G20 summit in Johannesburg and introduced a programme allowing white Afrikaners to settle in the United States.
Tensions have also grown over South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Pretoria accuses Israel, a US ally, of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, further complicating relations between the two governments.