US not expected to release list of South Africans targeted for visa restrictions

The US has announced a new targeted visa restriction policy against South Africans to punish the country for alleged “race-based discrimination” against Afrikaners and other minorities, as well as “incitement of imminent violence” and  “uncompensated land seizure”.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the travel sanctions on Tuesday, 15 September, and US Ambassador to SA Leo Brent Bozell III added that this was “only the first step in a series of escalatory measures that will show America’s firm resolve in this matter”.

The US government did not say which individuals would be denied entry to the US, though there have been indications in the past that the likes of EFF leader Julius Malema and perhaps some ANC leaders could be targeted.

Daily Maverick understands from diplomatic sources that no list of targeted individuals will be made public, so people will only discover they have been sanctioned when they apply for visas or try to travel to the US.

When Trump issued his executive order against South Africa in February 2025, the SA government said “the foundational premise of this order lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognise South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid.

“We are concerned by what seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation,” it continued,  adding that Afrikaners were ‘amongst the most economically privileged’ groups in South Africa.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously described Trump’s Afrikaner refugee policy as “uninformed” and “racist”.

Rubio’s announcement came while Ramaphosa was apparently still preparing his response to a message from President Donald Trump, delivered to him in Pretoria by Bozell on 26 August, expressing Trump’s well-known position on these issues.

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That message from Trump apparently demanded a response from Ramaphosa on US concerns, including about Black Economic Empowerment, Pretoria’s failure to condemn the “Kill the Boer” Struggle chant, expropriation legislation and the US view that SA had not done enough to address rural crime.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Daily Maverick last week that the president was preparing a “timely” response to Trump. It is not clear if he has responded.

‘Gravely concerned’

Rubio said in a statement on Tuesday that Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14204, of February 2025 “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa”, had said “the United States remains gravely concerned about racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination occurring against the Afrikaners and other minority populations in South Africa, including race-based discriminatory legislation, threats of land expropriation without compensation, and incitement of racial violence through dehumanizing chants and slogans”.

Rubio added: “The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns and so today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act targeting foreign nationals who are responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and/or the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority ethnic or racial groups 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. We once again strongly urge the South African government to quickly address these egregious actions.”

He said Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act “authorizes the Secretary of State to render inadmissible any alien whose entry into the United States ‘would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States’. Certain family members may also be covered by these restrictions.”

In a post on X, Rubio added that Trump had 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.

“The South African government has consistently failed to adequately address rural crime, violent and dehumanizing rhetoric, and race-based discriminatory policies against Afrikaners and other minority populations. Today, I’m announcing a new visa restriction policy targeting foreign nationals who enact or enable policies that promote race-based discrimination, incite violence, or enable land confiscation without compensation in South Africa. Those responsible for these injustices have no place in the United States.”

In a post on X, Bozell said: “As has been made absolutely clear, the time for endless ‘dialogue’ has run its course. No more. America has just so much patience. We want strong, and lasting relations with the South African government. It needs to show it wants the same. So far it has shown it cares for neither. As a result, the consequences, as I’ve attempted time and again to express, are necessarily going to be severe. 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.”

AfriForum, DA blame government

AfriForum has repeatedly called on the US to implement targeted sanctions against South African leaders, citing many of the same issues raised by Rubio.

AfriForum leader Kallie Kriel posted on X on Wednesday that AfriForum “is grateful that the latest action by the United States is not directed against South Africa and its people, but rather against individuals who incite ethnic violence against Afrikaners and farmers through slogans such as ‘Kill the Boer’, as well as individuals who are responsible for, or complicit in, introducing or implementing legislation and policies that enable expropriation without compensation and race-based discrimination”.

He added that the South African government must accept full responsibility for the US action because it had failed to take any meaningful steps to address these issues.

DA MP Ryan Smith said that while the DA respected the right of democratic countries to determine their own laws, “there is no denying that many of the policies drafted and passed by the African National Congress (ANC), to which the USA makes reference, have not served the South African public or achieved their desired outcome. This is true, and has been true, long before the advent of the Trump administration.

 “A shrinking economy, growing unemployment and endemic crime are reason enough for any country to address its own domestic policy failures regardless of what other international actors may claim.”

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said the party would issue a statement soon. Magwenya said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation would issue a statement. The EFF had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing. DM