The Trump administration has imposed visa restrictions on selected South Africans, warning that further punitive measures could follow unless the country’s leaders address concerns over alleged discrimination against white people.
The restrictions bar the affected individuals from entering the United States. Their identities cannot be disclosed publicly under US law.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures would apply to South Africans involved in race-based discrimination, those responsible for a law allowing land to be seized without compensation, and people who incite violence against racial minorities.
The policy extends the administration’s efforts to pressure South Africa after Donald Trump accused its government of taking land from Afrikaners, the country’s white minority, and allowing them to be killed. Claims that white South Africans are facing genocide are widely regarded as false, while President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the US approach as racist.
Warning of further measures against South Africa
Mr Rubio said Washington remained “gravely concerned about racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination occurring against the Afrikaners and other minority populations in South Africa.”
The announcement came less than three weeks after Mr Ramaphosa met L. Brent Bozell III, the US ambassador. The South African government had described that meeting as an opportunity to strengthen and recalibrate relations between the two countries.
Mr Bozell said on X that he had “attempted time and again to express” that South Africa could face severe consequences if it failed to meet the administration’s demands. Those demands include exempting American companies from Black ownership requirements and reversing a land expropriation law.
“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,” Mr Bozell wrote.
The South African government was not immediately available to comment on the new visa limits.
