US to Impose Visa Restrictions on South African Officials Over Alleged Discrimination
The Trump administration will revoke or deny US visas for South African officials accused of land seizures and discrimination against whites and other minorities.
The United States has announced it will impose travel bans on South African officials it accuses of responsibility for discrimination against whites and other minority groups, marking the latest escalation in a series of punitive measures against the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Washington would revoke US visas or reject applications from foreign nationals found to be responsible for, or complicit in, enacting or enforcing laws and policies that permit uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination and the incitement of violence against minority ethnic and racial groups in South Africa.
"The United States will not allow such behavior to go unchecked," Rubio said in a statement. "These actions directly undermine peace, economic stability, and the rule of law, and they are incompatible with the pillars of America's foreign policy."
No specific officials were named in the announcement. A lobby group representing minority whites in South Africa has previously urged the US to sanction members of the African National Congress, the party of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the largest in Parliament.
The South African government has rejected the allegations as baseless and the product of misinformation, a position it has maintained since President Donald Trump returned to office last year.
The US has cited several factors as evidence of an anti-white stance: a contentious law allowing expropriation of unused private land without compensation in certain circumstances, affirmative action policies that advance opportunities for Black South Africans and others, and a small number of violent crimes against white farmers. Washington has also criticised South Africa's decision to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza at the United Nations' top court, a case Israel strongly denies.
During Trump's second term, the US has enforced a range of other sanctions, including barring South African officials from this year's Group of 20 meetings held in the US and phasing out aid for the country's HIV treatment programme. It has also launched a refugee programme for Afrikaners and other whites, claiming they face a humanitarian emergency in South Africa.
Afrikaners, descended mainly from Dutch and French colonial settlers who arrived in the 17th century, were central to South Africa's former apartheid system of racial segregation. White people number approximately 4.5 million in a population of 62 million, which also includes whites of British and other heritage.
A US embassy account in South Africa said on X on Wednesday that the visa restriction policy is "only the first step in a series of escalatory measures" demonstrating America's resolve on the matter.