Sleeping While the Lies Were Written – A Call to Stand with South Africa

The Star

20 hours ago

Ngomane Nicholas | Published 2 hours ago
While South Africans rested under our night sky, a distorted narrative about our nation was quietly taking shape in Washington.
The Trump administration, through the US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, released a report that paints South Africa in the most troubling and inaccurate terms.
This so-called assessment, claiming to be the result of 'engagements with stakeholders' in South Africa, alleges a severe deterioration of human rights in the past year. It brands our Expropriation Act as 'substantially worrying,' accuses the Economic Freedom Fighters of encouraging farm attacks, and concludes that Afrikaners are being targeted as an ethnic minority. These claims are not only misleading — they are outright falsehoods.
The report leans on selective anecdotes, ignores verified data, and omits the context of our constitutional democracy. It overlooks that land reform policies are grounded in law, subject to judicial review, and aimed at correcting historic injustices. It repeats discredited myths about 'white genocide,' despite numerous independent investigations debunking such claims. This narrative is not about protecting human rights — it is a political weapon designed to undermine South Africa's sovereignty.
The most dangerous aspect of this report is its arrogance. Too often, foreign officials arrive on our soil convinced they have diagnosed our problems before speaking to the people who live here. By the time they check into their hotels, they have already designed solutions that disregard local realities.
The following day, they begin recruiting allies to impose their vision. This is not partnership — it is paternalism. It reduces our people to subjects of external judgment rather than citizens capable of defining their destiny.
This is not the first time Africa has been subjected to such treatment. History is filled with examples of outsiders painting the continent as broken to justify interference. Nelson Mandela warned that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of others; the inverse is also true — when our sovereignty is undermined, the freedom of all who value self-determination is at risk. Today, the tactics have shifted from open colonialism to narrative warfare, but the aim is the same: to weaken, divide, and control.
It is no coincidence that this report comes at a time when the South African government is seeking to grow revenue and resources in a competitive global economy. The subtext is clear—apply pressure through negative international perception, create economic vulnerability, and force political concessions. Tariffs, trade restrictions, and selective sanctions often follow such campaigns. This is not about human rights; it is about leverage.
South Africans cannot allow this narrative to go unchallenged. We must respond by writing, speaking, researching, and sharing our truths. Our universities, journalists, artists, and community leaders must actively dismantle the myths being exported about our nation. My research,
The Invisible Faith in Democracy: Ekaslam, has shown how foreign perceptions often strip township communities of their agency, treating them as evidence for pre-written stories rather than as living, complex societies. This report is a textbook example of that practice.
To those abroad who care about fairness: understand that South Africa is a vibrant, plural democracy with a fiercely independent judiciary, active civil society, and a free press. Our path is not perfect — no democracy's is — but it is ours to walk. Do not mistake the noise of politics for the collapse of a nation.
To those within our borders: let us unite in defending our sovereignty, for this moment calls for solidarity beyond party lines.
The architects of this report, along with the local voices who contributed to it, should bear the weight of shame for misrepresenting the country we have built together. South Africa is not defined by the distortions of foreign actors.
It is defined by the resilience of its people, the strength of its Constitution, and the unwavering belief that freedom, once won, must be guarded fiercely.
The world must know we will not bow. We will rise—together.
Ngomane, PhD Candidate | University of the WitwatersrandTheatre Practitioner | Researcher | Dramaturge