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4mo ago

U.S. State Department Reports Human Rights Decline in South Africa, Pretoria Rejects Findings

Pretoria calls the annual U.S. rights report inaccurate, politically driven, intensifying tensions over tariffs and refugee resettlement measures

FILE - President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JULY 27: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa listens to a speech during a session as representatives from six African liberation movements convened at the third day of the Liberation Movements Summit on July 27, 2025 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The summit, held 25-27th July, was expected to include South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, and former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, and would feature a joint press briefing by the leadership of the MPLA, Frelimo, Swapo, CCM, Zanu-PF, and the ANC. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)

Overview

  • The 2025 U.S. human rights report concludes that South Africa’s situation “significantly worsened,” citing extrajudicial killings by government agents and repression of Afrikaner minorities.
  • It criticizes the 2024 Expropriation Act as enabling potential uncompensated land seizures of Afrikaner farmers, fueling concerns over racialized land reform.
  • The report references AFP data showing 447 murders on farms and smallholdings between October 2023 and September 2024, along with documented police shoot-outs and deaths in custody.
  • South Africa’s foreign ministry dismissed the assessment as “inaccurate and deeply flawed,” pointing to United Nations praise for its constitutional land reform process.
  • The dispute has prompted U.S. tariffs on South African exports, suspension of development aid and expedited Afrikaner refugee processing, while critics accuse report authors of political bias.