US announces visa restrictions on some South African officials over land reform policies

The United States has announced a new visa restriction policy targeting some foreign nationals from South Africa over the country’s land reform policies and other measures that Washington says discriminate against minority groups.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the policy on Tuesday, saying it would apply to individuals responsible for or involved in implementing laws that allow 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 the United States.

“The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns,” he said in a statement.

However, Rubio did not name any individual who would be affected by the restrictions.

The move marks another step in the worsening relationship between Washington and Pretoria under President Donald Trump’s administration.

The US has repeatedly criticised South Africa over its land reform programme, which seeks to address inequalities created during apartheid. Trump has argued that the policies unfairly affect the country’s white population, particularly white 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 people are being persecuted. The government has maintained that there is no evidence of systematic discrimination against white citizens and has said narratives of white persecution undermine the country’s post-apartheid unity, sovereignty and diplomatic relations.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also called for international efforts to counter what he described as false claims about the persecution of white South Africans.

Since returning to office, Trump has taken several measures against South Africa, including cutting some US aid, offering refugee status to some white Afrikaners, expelling South Africa’s ambassador and repeating claims of “white genocide,” which the South African government has repeatedly denied.

More than 30 years after apartheid ended, South Africa remains one of the world’s most unequal societies.

Although the country has one of the highest murder rates globally, official data show that most victims of violent crime are Black South Africans.