Lex Libertas welcomes targeted US visa restrictions on South Africa

The think tank and advocacy group Lex Libertas has welcomed the new United States visa restriction policy announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while stressing that the deterioration in relations between South Africa and the United States was avoidable.

The policy targets specific individuals whom the United States regards as responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies enabling uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, or the incitement of imminent violence against minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa. It is directed at identified responsible individuals rather than the population of South Africa as a whole.

The United States Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, L. Brent Bozell III, wrote on X that ‘this visa restriction policy is only the first step in a series of escalatory measures that will show America’s firm resolve in this matter.’

‘This escalation was preventable,’ said Dr Ernst Roets, Executive Director of Lex Libertas. ‘The concerns raised by the American government more than a year ago do not set an impossibly high bar. There were immediate steps that could have been taken to address the deterioration in relations: serious engagement on race-based discrimination and property rights, unequivocal condemnation of incitement of violence, and meaningful action on rural safety. What has been lacking is the political will to deal with these concerns seriously.’

Roets said Lex Libertas cautiously welcomes the development for two reasons.

‘Firstly, it demonstrates that the American government remains interested in contributing to a solution in South Africa. The refugee programme provides an important option to people who believe that they no longer have a future here, but helping people to leave cannot be the only response. The more important long-term objective should be to help create the conditions in which communities can build a secure and sustainable future in South Africa.’

‘Secondly, the targeted nature of the measure is significant. It distinguishes between the peoples of South Africa and those individuals whom the United States regards as responsible for the policies and actions at issue. Ordinary people are not being punished for decisions taken by political office-bearers and officials. Where consequences are imposed, they should as far as possible fall on those responsible for creating the crisis.’

The announcement comes just a week before Lex Libertas, the New York Young Republican Club and a network of other institutions take the White Cross Project to Washington, D.C. The project will include a conference on 25 September, followed by a vigil on 26 September at which approximately 3,000 white crosses bearing the names of farm-murder victims will be displayed. Lex Libertas will also release its White Cross Project Campaign Report, which deals with political incitement, farm attacks, race-based legislation, threats to property rights, and proposed short- and long-term solutions. It will also release a documentary film, Crossed Out: Confronting Persecution in South Africa, which examines these issues through the experiences of people directly affected by them.

‘We are not going to Washington merely to complain about South Africa,’ Roets said. ‘Our purpose is to present evidence, honour victims and argue for practical solutions. Ultimately, our objective is a more viable political order based on freedom, decentralisation and meaningful self-governance.’

Lex Libertas believes measures of this kind should be understood as a means of encouraging reform rather than as an end in themselves.

‘The best outcome would be a restoration of constructive relations between South Africa and the United States, accompanied by meaningful reform at home. But that requires the South African government to address the concerns that have brought relations to this point.’