AfSA STATEMENT ON US VISA RESTRICTIONS AGAINST SOUTH AFRICANS A serious escalation The new US visa restrictions escalate a dispute that has moved from criticism and aid cuts to now targeting individuals. The American embassy in South Africa issued the needlessly belligerent warning that the new directive is "the first step in a series of escalatory measures". This amounts to pressure to change South Africa's laws, court outcomes, and foreign policy. Some Afrikaner organisations have applauded the directive, but they don't speak for all Afrikaners – and on social media their stance has fuelled hostility toward the whole Afrikaner community. The actions of a few should not stigmatise an entire group. Our courts decide – not foreign governments South Africa is a constitutional democracy with an independent judiciary. The "Kill the Boer" chant is inflammatory and harmful to reconciliation. But our courts found it to be protected political expression rather than incitement – a conclusion the Constitutional Court left undisturbed. The ANC has banned the song at its own gatherings, but President Cyril Ramaphosa cannot overturn a judicial ruling just because a foreign president demands it. The Expropriation Act permits nil compensation only in narrow, just-and-equitable circumstances, with full recourse to the courts, and it's being challenged judicially right now. Constitutional disputes belong in court, not in foreign executive orders. Race-based laws – a debate for South Africans BEE’s effectiveness and vulnerability to abuse and elite enrichment must be debated. But it is constitutionally permitted and intended to address apartheid’s continuing economic consequences. That debate belongs to South Africans. There's no credible evidence South Africa has more race-based laws than any other country. The oft-cited index counts any law where race is legally relevant, regardless of purpose, including defunct pre-1994 statutes. Equating remedial measures with apartheid-era domination laws is misleading. Farm violence is part of a national crisis Attacks on farmers and rural communities are horrific, leaving families with grief and trauma that must never be dismissed. Victims deserve compassion and justice. But their pain shouldn't be exploited to push an unsupported narrative of state-sponsored racial persecution. Violence touches every community – its heaviest burden falls on poor, predominantly black areas where murder, robbery and gang violence are daily realities. Recognising the broader crisis does not minimise the horror of farm attacks; it places them within South Africa’s wider failure to protect its people, rather than a racially targeted campaign. Foreign-policy double standards Washington invokes property rights in South Africa while backing Israel despite documented displacement and seizure of Palestinian property. It demands distance from Iran while courting its own rivals when convenient. Non-alignment is not obedience. Engagement, not submission South Africa should stay open to engagement with the US. But our laws are tested in our courts, our disputes resolved democratically, and our foreign policy is set by South Africans – not by foreign governments.