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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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The United States has laid out five steps it wants South Africa to take as Washington ramps up pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa's government.
U.S. Ambassador to South Africa L. Brent Bozell III said Washington presented the South African government with five requests aimed at resolving some of the disputes that have strained relations between the countries.
The five points provide one of the clearest indications yet of what the Trump administration wants from South Africa as relations between the two countries have deteriorated.
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Newsweek contacted the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa for comment and is awaiting a response.
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US Demands
Writing in an op-ed published by the U.S. Embassy, Bozell said South Africa had "more or less dealt with" the first two issues but sharply criticized its handling of the remaining three.
It comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed visa restrictions on certain South African nationals over policies the Trump administration says enable race-based discrimination, uncompensated land seizures or the incitement of violence.
Bozell said the first request was that South Africa not obstruct U.S. efforts to process Afrikaners seeking refugee status in America. He said Pretoria gave Washington assurances in January that it would not do so.
The second concerned land expropriation, with Washington asking South Africa not to carry out uncompensated land seizures. Bozell said the matter had also been addressed because the Expropriation Act is undergoing judicial review.
The remaining three demands concern some of the most politically contentious issues in South Africa.
Washington wants Ramaphosa and other senior government officials to condemn the "Kill the Boer" or "Kill the Farmer" chant, designate rural crime as a priority crime and establish and fund a plan to combat it, and extend alternatives to Black Economic Empowerment ownership requirements for multinational companies operating in the telecommunications and mining sectors.
Bozell said Ramaphosa had responded formally to President Donald Trump, but criticized Pretoria for not doing enough to address the final three requests.
However, Bozell's op-ed does not explicitly state that meeting all five demands would automatically result in the visa restrictions being removed.
Rubio announced the new visa policy on September 15 under a provision of U.S. immigration law that allows the Secretary of State to deem foreign nationals inadmissible if their entry would have potentially serious adverse foreign-policy consequences for the United States.
The State Department said the restrictions would target foreign nationals responsible for or complicit in laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination or the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority racial or ethnic groups. Certain family members could also be covered.
"We once again strongly urge the South African government to quickly address these egregious actions," Rubio wrote.
South Africa rejected the move, saying the restrictions reflected a "mischaracterization" of its domestic policies and defending its right to enact laws addressing centuries of racial injustice. Pretoria also said the U.S. measures were influenced by fringe groups that falsely claimed to represent the country's white minority.
"We reiterate that healing the divisions of the past and establishing a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights is a constitutional imperative," International Relations and Co-operation Minister Ronald Lamola said in a statement.
The dispute has increasingly focused on policies adopted to address economic and racial inequalities that persist more than three decades after apartheid.
One flashpoint is South Africa's Expropriation Act, which allows property to be expropriated in the public interest and provides for nil compensation in certain circumstances. The legislation has faced legal challenges, and Bozell said Washington regards its concerns over land expropriation as addressed while the judicial process continues.
Rural violence is another point of contention. AfriForum said it recorded 184 farm attacks and 29 murders in 2025, while the Institute for Security Studies has said farm attacks are a serious crime problem but found no evidence of an orchestrated campaign against white farmers.
Washington is also pressing for changes to South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment rules. Bozell wants Equity Equivalent Investment Programme alternatives extended to the telecommunications and mining sectors, although South African policy already allows qualifying multinational companies to make approved investments that count toward B-BBEE ownership requirements.
Tensions came to a head during a May 2025 White House meeting, when Trump confronted Ramaphosa over allegations of violence against white farmers in South Africa. Trump showed Ramaphosa videos and other material that he said supported claims of "white genocide," allegations the South African government has rejected.
A State Department spokesperson told Newsweek: "The United States has clearly communicated our demands to the South African government, and they align with President Trump’s Executive Order 14204, ''Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa.'"
Afrikaner Refugee Program
The Trump administration has created a U.S. refugee resettlement program specifically for Afrikaners, South Africa’s predominantly white, Afrikaans-speaking minority.
The Trump administration is planning to admit up to 17,500 refugees from South Africa in fiscal year 2027, with the State Department telling Congress that the admissions will "primarily" go to Afrikaners, according to a notice obtained by CBS News.
Trump directed his administration in February 2025 to prioritize the resettlement of Afrikaners whom the administration said faced racial discrimination and other forms of persecution in South Africa.
The policy does not automatically grant refugee status to Afrikaners. Applicants must go through the U.S. refugee-processing system and meet the applicable legal requirements.
The first group of 49 Afrikaners arrived in the United States in May 2025 under the program. In May 2026, the Trump administration increased the U.S. refugee admissions ceiling by 10,000 places specifically to accommodate additional Afrikaners, citing what it described as humanitarian concerns.
The administration has linked the program to its broader criticism of South African policies on land reform, racial preferences and rural crime. U.S. officials have argued that some Afrikaners face discrimination because of their race and have raised concerns about violence against white farmers.
South Africa has rejected that characterization, saying Afrikaners are not a persecuted racial group and arguing that policies such as land reform and Black Economic Empowerment are intended to address the economic and social consequences of apartheid.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and James Debens
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