The US government has announced a visa restriction policy for South Africans that it alleges are involved in racial discrimination against Afrikaners and warned of further escalatory measures, as the diplomatic relationship between the countries plumbs new depths.
"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," said US secretary of state Marco Rubio (pictured).
Rubio said that the new measures would target "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."
In a further statement, US Ambassador to South Africa Brent Bozel said that the visa restriction policy was "only the first step in a series of escalatory measures that will show America's firm resolve in this matter" if action was not taken by the South African government.
Originally published by African Business.