President Cyril Ramaphosa refuses to condemn an incitement to kill white farmers in South Africa

United States Ambassador to South Africa, L. Brent Bozell III, said that President Cyril Ramaphosa refuses to condemn an incitement to kill white farmers in South Africa.

He shared his views on the relationship between the United States and South Africa during an interview on Fox News.

Bozell explained that one of the things the United States asked of President Ramaphosa was to condemn the chant, ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’.

“Ask 100% of the world if ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ is hate speech, and they will agree. If that is not hate speech, I don’t know what it is,” he said.

“It is asking people to commit murder. This chant is an incitement to violence, and we thought it would not be difficult for the President to condemn it.”

However, President Ramaphosa refused, citing the Constitutional Court ruling that stated that it is not hate speech.

Bozell said that a President can disagree with a court ruling, as it is what leaders do in a democracy.

“For Ramaphosa to claim that he could not condemn the chant because the court ruled on it is nonsense. If he wants to, he could do it.”

They have even suggested that Ramaphosa finds an incitement to violence from the Afrikaners and condemn that too.

“How hard is it to say that people should stop chanting to kill farmers? It is awful that anybody should be inciting people to kill,” he said.

Farm attacks and BEE

The United States also asked President Ramaphosa to do more for rural farmers who are being attacked, tortured, and killed in South Africa.

He said that the United States offered to help with technology and pay for the programme. They showed South Africa how it could be done.

“However, they were not interested. We have a President of South Africa who refuses to condemn an incitement to kill,” Bozell said.

Apart from the rural safety and the Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer issues, the United States also requested an alternative to black economic empowerment (BEE).

He explained that they are asking the government to apply the Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP) to the mining and telecommunications sectors.

However, despite the promise of billions of dollars of investments from the United States, Ramaphosa refused.

“Those were three strikes, and you are out, as far as the United States is concerned,” Bozell said.

More sanctions against South Africa can follow

On 15 September 2026, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new visa restriction policy against certain South Africans.

These restrictions target individuals who implement laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures and race-based discrimination.

The new policy also targets people involved in the incitement of imminent violence against any minority ethnic or racial group in South Africa.

This, Bozell said, was only the start. He said that additional sanctions could follow, but he was not at liberty to share details about what they might be.

He highlighted that the United States was working hard to prevent this from happening and that he remained optimistic that a solution might be found.

“We are doing everything in our power to convince South Africa to be a partner of the United States,” Bozell said.

“However, if South Africa continues to go down the path of befriending the United States’ adversaries, we will respond to that. It will not be good.”

He highlighted that the United States does not want to go down this route and that it can help South Africa more than any other country.