JOHANNESBURG - The US has announced new visa restrictions targeting certain foreign nationals linked to what Washington describes as race-based discrimination, incitement of violence and uncompensated land seizures in South Africa.
The Trump administration has again raised allegations of government-sponsored discrimination against Afrikaners and concerns over land expropriation in South Africa.
In a statement on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the restrictions were intended to “address the egregious actions of the Republic of South Africa”.
The statement said the US remained “gravely concerned” about racially motivated crime and what it described as government-sponsored discrimination.
“As President Trump has made clear, the South African people are being failed by a government that is destroying its economy through an obsessive pursuit of racial grievance against the Afrikaner minority,” Rubio said.
He said the visa restrictions would target people responsible for or complicit in “race-based discrimination”, inciting imminent violence against minority racial or ethnic groups, or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures in South Africa.
“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,” Rubio’s statement said.
In 2025, US President Donald Trump confronted President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa.
His administration has also imposed tariffs on South African goods and previously criticised the country’s land reform policies.
Ramaphosa has rejected Trump’s claims as “blatant misinformation”.
In March, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel also said there is no genocide of white farmers in South Africa.
Additional reporting by AFP