Open Letter to DIRCO Regarding Consistent Application of Diplomatic Standards and Incitement by Foreign Missions in South Africa

Dear Minister Lamola,

In recent days, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) moved swiftly to issue a démarche the newly appointed United States Ambassador to South Africa, Ambassador Brent Bozell, after he expressed the view that the chant “Kill the Boer” constitutes hate speech. Your department described his remarks as undiplomatic and summoned him to account for them.

Whether one agrees with Ambassador Bozell’s position or not, it is notable that his remarks consisted of a political opinion regarding a controversial chant, and that it is objectively true that the Kill the Boer chant constitutes hate speech, because it targets a group of people based on their ethnicity and calls for violence to be inflicted upon them.

Against this background, it is deeply disturbing that the Iranian Embassy in South Africa has published a post on social media yesterday with the words “The only American thing that can pass through the Strait of Hormuz…”, combined with a picture of American coffins floating in the strait. The fact that the post has since been deleted is irrelevant.

This raises a fundamental question: Will DIRCO apply the same diplomatic standards consistently?

If a foreign ambassador expressing a political opinion about a slogan that clearly incites violence towards an ethnic minority is deemed sufficiently serious to warrant a formal démarche, then surely the public display of imagery glorifying the deaths of foreign citizens must also be treated as a grave diplomatic matter.

The silence of the South African government in response to this incident would send a deeply troubling message — namely that inflammatory or threatening conduct by certain foreign governments will be tolerated, while others are publicly rebuked.

On behalf of Lex Libertas, I therefore call on DIRCO to:

1. Publicly clarify whether it intends to take formal diplomatic action regarding the conduct of the Iranian Embassy;
2. Apply diplomatic standards consistently, irrespective of the country involved; and
3. Inform the South African public what steps have been taken to address this matter.

South Africa’s foreign policy credibility depends not only on what it says, but on whether it applies its principles consistently.

If the Department of International Relations and Cooperation believes that diplomatic conduct matters — and its actions toward the U.S. Ambassador suggest that it does — then it must demonstrate that the same standard applies when far more explicit and disturbing imagery is involved.

You need not respond to this letter privately, as the question is about whether the Department will respond publicly.

Yours sincerely, Ernst Roets

Lex Libertas is a think tank and advocacy group working towards a viable political dispensation in South Africa, based on the principles of freedom, decentralisation, and self-governance.

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