By Once again, the United States has taken a swing at South Africa with the violation of human rights agenda, despite this being cleared and being ventilated in the country’s judiciary, the US insists on the falsified position on South Africa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Land Expropriation Bill into law on 23 January 2025, which seeks to balance the ownership of land between the minority and the previously disadvantaged majority. However, this was not well received amongst some of the Boer community and their solidarity groups. They ventured into a discrediting campaign going to The White House with false claims that farms are being forcibly taken, white farmers a being murdered, using the term ‘white genocide’.
President Donald Trump took an aggressive stance against South Africa with no proof or evidence; he cut off funding towards South Africa, which affected a number of poor people. President Ramaphosa and his envoy met with Trump in the Oval Office to resolve the matter and affirm him that there is no such happening in the country.
Instead, he ambushed them showing them photos of other countries, photos of demonstrations which he thought were real graves along the roadside. The meeting however temporarily suspended his rage towards South Africa, and he temporarily sang a different tune after his fallout with Elon Musk, but now he is back at it again.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in South Africa has expressed disappointment with the recent report on human rights in South Africa published by the U.S. State Department.
The department says it finds the report to be an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
According to the Minister of DIRCO, Ronald Lamola; the report’s reliance on a-contextual information and discredited accounts is highly concerning. It cites an incident involving the deaths of farm workers and, despite the matter being actively adjudicated by South Africa’s independent judiciary, misleadingly presents it as an extrajudicial killing.
He said this is not only premature but a fundamental distortion of the facts, as the individuals are formally arraigned before a court of law. Similarly, incidents of police using force are mentioned without acknowledging the robust processes in place, where institutions designed to protect our democracy are actively investigating whether due process was followed and if such force was warranted.
“South Africa operates a transparent system where information is freely available from our law enforcement agencies and Chapter 9 institutions, which are constitutionally mandated to protect and advance human rights. It is ironic that a report from a nation that has exited by the UN Human Rights Council and therefore no longer sees itself accountable in a multilateral peer review system would seek to produce one side fact free reports without any due process or engagement. This is particularly striking given the significant and documented concerns about human rights within the United States, including the treatment of refugees and breaches in due process by its own agencies, such as ICE.
In stark contrast to the U.S. report, we note the recent assessment from the United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva. The UN has described South Africa’s Land Expropriation Act, signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa, as a “critical step in addressing the country’s racially imbalanced land ownership.” This recognition from the UN’s primary human rights body underscores the integrity of our legislative processes aimed at rectifying historical injustices in a constitutional and human-rights-based manner,” said the Minister.
Lamola further said his department is compiling a documents that will provide a complete and accurate picture of what is taking place in South Africa, the documents will be made public for everyone to access.
