The South African government has fiercely rejected a recent US State Department report that paints a grim picture of the country’s human rights climate, calling it “inaccurate and deeply flawed.” The report, issued by the Trump administration as part of its global human rights review, alleges a sharp decline in South Africa’s rights record in 2024 particularly citing the treatment of white Afrikaners following the passage of sweeping land reform legislation.
Washington claimed the reforms unfairly target Afrikaners, a historically privileged group during apartheid, sparking accusations of reverse discrimination. However, South Africa’s Foreign Ministry pushed back, labeling the report misleading and reliant on “out-of-context information and discredited accounts.”
“The Land Expropriation Act is a constitutional and human-rights-driven attempt to address centuries of racial land inequality,” the ministry stated, adding that the legislation had received praise from the United Nations as a progressive step toward equitable land redistribution.
Officials in Pretoria also noted the irony of such criticism coming from a country that withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, and where domestic human rights concerns including refugee treatment and due process violations by agencies like ICE remain unresolved.
The report further accused South Africa of failing to address inflammatory rhetoric and violence against racial minorities, including Afrikaners. Pretoria rejected these claims as baseless.
This latest exchange adds to escalating diplomatic friction between Washington and Pretoria since Donald Trump’s re-election. In a tense White House meeting in May, Trump reportedly confronted President Cyril Ramaphosa with debunked allegations that white-owned farms were being illegally seized.
The Trump administration has since expedited refugee visa processes for Afrikaners and imposed 30% tariffs on South African exports.
South Africa’s neutral stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict has also drawn Trump’s ire, leading to the expulsion of South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool from Washington.
In a related development, the Afrikaans trade union Solidarity criticized by Ramaphosa for its lobbying efforts in the US announced it will return to Washington in September. The union plans to press for the removal of South Africa’s racial redress laws, advocate for renewed trade agreements, and push for closer bilateral relations.
With tensions mounting and Trump hinting he may skip the G20 summit in Johannesburg this November, relations between the two democracies appear to be at their lowest point in years.
Erizia Rubyjeana
Follow us on:
