US lists FOUR demands of South Africa, including condemnation of 'Kill the Boer'
The United States government has outlined a set of preconditions that it wants met before fully normalising bilateral relations with South Africa.
These demands were communicated to a visiting delegation of Afrikaner leaders during a high-level meeting with senior White House officials.
The delegation, made up of Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Corné Mulder, Southern African Agri Initiative chairman Dr Theo de Jager, and National Employers' Association of South Africa CEO Gerhard Papenfus, met with representatives from the Office of the US Vice President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.
During the meeting, US officials emphasised that improving relations will depend on South Africa addressing four key issues :
The US wants the South African government to officially classify farm attacks as a priority crime, on par with crimes like rhino poaching and cash-in-transit heists.
They said that each incident should be handled by elite investigative units such as the Hawks, and warned that the current lack of urgency sends the wrong message about rural safety and human rights.
American officials called for a clear, public condemnation by the ANC of the chant 'Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer,' which they described as inciting violence, regardless of whether it is expressed in song or speech.
The US stressed the importance of promoting inclusive rhetoric to foster social cohesion.
The US reaffirmed its stance that land expropriation must include fair market compensation and follow full legal processes.
Officials noted concern about property rights and investor confidence, saying that land reform must be conducted in a transparent, lawful, and non-discriminatory manner.
Another demand is that US companies be exempt from Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies that impose race-based requirements.
According to the officials, BEE regulations function as non-tariff trade barriers and should not be imposed on American entities doing business in South Africa.
Following the meeting, the Afrikaner delegation expressed their support for improved US-South Africa relations and committed to conveying the US administration's expectations to both the South African public and government.
They said that these preconditions had been raised with South African authorities multiple times before but had not yet been adequately addressed. Context and implications
This development comes at a sensitive time for South Africa's foreign relations, particularly in light of ongoing criticism regarding rural safety, land reform, and the country's affirmative action policies.
The White House's strong messaging suggests that unless these concerns are resolved, bilateral cooperation – especially in trade, investment, and diplomatic areas – may remain strained.
Analysts suggest this may also affect South Africa's standing in US-Africa trade programmes and its broader geopolitical positioning, particularly as the global focus shifts toward more rights-based and investor-friendly governance models.
The South African government is expected to respond to these concerns in the coming weeks.
Whether it engages with these demands could determine the future strength of US-South African ties – and how both countries navigate mutual economic and political interests going forward.
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1
Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
24 minutes ago
- IOL News
How Cape Town shaped New York's first Muslim mayoral contender
Cape Town played a role in shaping Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic primary winner poised to become New York's first Muslim mayor. Cape Town may be half a world away from New York City, but it played a formative role in the life of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old who has just won the Democratic primary to become New York's next mayor. If elected in November, he will make history as the city's first Muslim mayor. Mamdani, now a rising political star in the US, spent several of his early school years in Cape Town, attending St George's Grammar School in Little Mowbray. The school, founded in 1848, proudly celebrates him as one of its own - a boy who once sat in Sub A and Standard 1 classrooms, now poised to take on one of the most powerful civic leadership roles in the world. Zohran was enrolled at St George's Grammar School in 1996, 1997 and 1998, while his father, academic Mahmood Mamdani, was director of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town. One story from that time has stuck with the family. When asked in class what colour he was, while his classmates answered 'white', 'Black' or 'coloured', young Zohran replied simply: 'mustard.' 'I found it most touching,' his father recalled. Born in New York but raised partly in Uganda and South Africa, Mamdani returned to the United States where he is now shaking up the political establishment with a bold and unapologetically progressive agenda. A self-described socialist, Mamdani's campaign was Initially dismissed as a long shot, Mamdani's campaign has surged into the mainstream, driven by slick social media messaging and growing discontent among younger voters facing economic strain His promises to bring sweeping reforms: free public buses, universal childcare, a rise in the minimum wage, and affordable housing – all to be funded through increased taxes on the wealthy. His candidacy has received strong endorsements from major progressive figures including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, positioning him as a face of a new, more left-leaning Democratic Party. Mamdani is also a fierce critic of Donald Trump and has pledged to make New York a 'model for the Democratic Party'. His background is as politically rich as his campaign rhetoric. Mamdani has acknowledged his 'privileged upbringing', shaped by constant discussions of politics and global affairs. His mother is award-winning filmmaker Mira Nair, while his father is widely known in South African academic circles for the so-called 'Mamdani Affair', sparked by his attempts to decolonise the curriculum at UCT in the late 1990s. Both parents are outspoken intellectuals, known for their critical views on imperialism and settler colonialism. These views could place them – and by extension, their son – under political scrutiny. But despite their influence, both parents insist that Zohran's campaign is very much his own. 'He has not turned to us for political advice,' they say, though they may now find themselves pulled into the spotlight as their son steps onto the world stage. IOL Lifestyle
TimesLIVE
2 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
More than R5m in taxpayers' money spent to fund suspended police salaries — Mchunu
SAPS has spent more than R5m to fund the salaries of 11 suspended police officers over the past three years. This was revealed by police minister Senzo Mchunu in a written reply to a recent parliamentary question by Build One SA (Bosa). By May 16, two lieutenant-generals suspended since 2022 have been paid more than R4m without working. Other officers suspended with full pay include sergeants and constables, with their payments ranging from R35,000 to R56,000 each. Bosa spokesperson Roger Solomons criticised the payments, citing a shortage of police resources to respond to crime. 'This is an affront to every South African living in fear, waiting hours for the police to respond, only to be told there are no vehicles, no officers and no capacity. Meanwhile, senior officers who should be leading the fight against crime are being paid millions to sit at home. 'While communities are under siege, SAPS continues to waste resources on suspended officials instead of bolstering front-line policing.' Mchunu previously said the country has a shortage of detectives, with 2,344 vacant posts. Solomons said this shows SAPS's failure in leadership and accountability. 'A culture that tolerates delayed disciplinary processes, shields incompetence and rewards misconduct cannot deliver safety to the people of South Africa. 'Bosa calls for urgent disciplinary case finalisation for suspended officers and transparency reports every quarter on SAPS suspensions and costs.'
IOL News
2 hours ago
- IOL News
South Africa's fatal flaw in ignoring lessons from the past
Shacks erected on the central line just outside Langa train station. The 'throwing out of the baby with the bathwater' extended to the homelands and self-governing states. Good infrastructure that had been built inexplicably became white elephants. Image: Henk Kruger/African News Agency (ANA) 'Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.' — Thomas Edison ONE of my favourite Japanese proverbs states: 'If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.' I hope everyone has had enough tea to see clearly where the democratic government may have gone wrong since taking power in 1994, and not to react with unnecessary emotion to the views this piece advances. If a nation decides to change principles when what is truly needed is to tweak its techne, it will have succeeded in nothing more than throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We must embrace what we have learned from experience and tradition, as much of it comes at a dear price. We should also value what we discover in research, for it is incredibly valuable and accurate. However, we must be mindful not to discard wisdom along with data. There is tremendous wisdom in what used to be called common sense. One of the most important pieces of advice comes from the technological advances of the 1800s. Back then, homes typically had a small porch or enclosure off the kitchen to house the bathtub. On Saturday night, the matron of the household would heat water on the kitchen stove and fill the tub. The head of the household would take the first bath, followed by the matron, the oldest son, and so on, until the baby was bathed in what was often cool sewage. After the baby was bathed, someone had to throw out the bathwater, giving rise to the saying, 'don't throw out the baby with the bathwater'. Arthur C Clarke, the science-fiction writer of 2001: A Space Odyssey, said we stand now at the turning point between two eras. The democratically elected South African government must have confronted several scenarios regarding what to retain and what to discard. The democratic government's policy changes risked building on weaknesses while disregarding the strengths of past work, resulting in the baby disappearing along with the bathwater. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ In his book Black Economic Empowerment: 20 Years Later, Phinda Madi argues that the new government needs to distinguish between the valuable baby and the — at times — dirty bathwater. It seems the democratic government started on the wrong foot. The proliferation of general advice and the lack of simple, practical, area-specific information were major concerns, leading to slapdash performance. When someone breaks a leg, it is normally put in a cast; it is not cut off. In 1994, politicians wanted to chop off the legs instead of mending them. In our euphoric fit for 'anything but black' when we took power from the apartheid regime, we committed egregious errors. We were intent on discarding anything associated with apartheid, even some of its remarkably well-crafted policies on governance and administration. We did this without a proven record of administering a country. As the saying goes, we threw out the baby with the bathwater. On complex issues like governance and administration, especially if a political party has never governed, uncertainty, ignorance, and indeterminacy are always present. Serious reflection should have been exercised before discarding both the apartheid baby and bathwater. The 'throwing out of the baby with the bathwater' extended to the homelands and self-governing states. Good infrastructure that had been built inexplicably became white elephants. Bophuthatswana was the 'Dubai' of the time, with excellent infrastructure, as was Transkei. Today, these areas are shadows of their former greatness. In KwaZulu-Natal, once a mecca of education, the misguided mentality led to several colleges becoming white elephants, with some now used as hostels. My view is that regarding some credible apartheid-era policies and principles, especially on governance and administration, all that was needed was to dust off and possibly tweak and sanitise those policies. In short, the 'baby' should have been retained, while only the dirty apartheid bathwater should have been discarded. We continue to throw the baby out with the bathwater when our universities fail to invite former president Thabo Mbeki to give lectures on governance and administration. This is done in the United States with great success. Former US presidents, depending on their health, criss-cross the country giving lectures at different universities. It is important to remember that being president does not mean one should not express personal views on national interest matters. Although the line between the private and public is often blurred for public figures, it is necessary to keep this in mind, especially in this age of the unscrupulous press and paparazzi. As South Africans, we must reorient our expectations of what a president ought to be. There seems to be a perception that politicians and intellectuals make strange bedfellows, creating an unwarranted dichotomy between public life and a life of the mind. We continued to throw the baby out with the bathwater by failing to tap into the vast experience of Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi on governance and administration, as well as the workforce that was the backbone of the KwaZulu government. The counsel of Buthelezi on Zulu history and traditional leadership was disregarded. The democratic government threw out the baby with the bathwater when it overlooked many positives of the erstwhile KwaZulu Government. The democratic government and our universities lacked the foresight to invite figures like Buthelezi and Inkosi Lucas Mangope to share their knowledge and practical experience on governance matters. We also threw the baby out with the bathwater when we disregarded the expertise of seasoned public servants from the homelands and self-governing states. Some became redundant and chose early retirement. The blind approach of discarding expertise gained during the apartheid government has had a debilitating effect on our country, particularly from an infrastructural standpoint. The expertise of the apartheid-era workforce should not have been disregarded or thrown out with the bathwater; instead, it should have been built upon. In some instances, when the democratic government was formed, the 'baby' should have been kept while discarding the water with caution. The irony is that the phenomenon of throwing the baby out with the bathwater continues unabated in various forms, especially in the public service. * Dr Vusi Shongwe works in the Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture in KwaZulu-Natal and writes in his personal capacity. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media. Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.
