US announces visa curbs for some foreign nationals in South Africa

Sept 15 (Reuters) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday the U.S. government was announcing a new visa restriction policy targeting some foreign nationals in South Africa. 

The policy targets “foreign nationals who are responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and/or the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa,” Rubio said in a statement.

“The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns,” Rubio said.

Relations between Washington and Pretoria have soured since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, with the U.S. president criticizing the country for its policies aimed at addressing racial inequality.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Caitlin Webber)