The United States has announced a new visa restriction policy targeting certain South African nationals over the country’s land reform programme and other measures Washington says discriminate against minority groups.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the policy on Tuesday, stating it would apply to individuals responsible for, or involved in implementing, laws permitting uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, or the incitement of imminent violence against minority ethnic or racial groups. Rubio said the South African government had failed to adequately address concerns previously raised by Washington, though he did not name any individual affected by the measure.
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The move represents a further deterioration in relations between Washington and Pretoria under President Donald Trump’s administration. The United States has repeatedly criticised South Africa’s land reform programme, which is intended to address inequalities dating from the apartheid era. Trump has argued the policy unfairly affects the country’s white population, particularly Afrikaners. Washington has also opposed South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
South Africa has rejected claims that white citizens are being persecuted, maintaining there is no evidence of systematic discrimination against them and warning that such narratives undermine the country’s post-apartheid unity, sovereignty and diplomatic standing. President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for international efforts to counter what he described as false claims of persecution against white South Africans.
Since returning to office, Trump has taken a series of measures against South Africa, including reducing some U.S. aid, offering refugee status to certain white Afrikaners, expelling South Africa’s ambassador, and repeating claims of “white genocide” — allegations the South African government has consistently denied.
More than three decades after the end of apartheid, South Africa remains among the world’s most unequal societies. Although the country has one of the highest murder rates globally, official data show that the majority of violent crime victims are Black South Africans.
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