Public Interest SA Condemns US State Department’s Brazen Meddling in South Africa’s Sovereign Affairs

MEDIA STATEMENT

Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, 14 August 2025 - Public Interest SA condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the United States State Department’s latest manoeuvre to fast-track visas for approximately 30 Kenya-based operatives under the guise of “resettlement support” for the so-called Afrikaner “refugees.” This cynical and ill-conceived initiative, operated through RSC Africa — a Nairobi-based entity run by Church World Service — is a calculated affront to South Africa’s sovereignty and a brazen intrusion into our domestic affairs.

It is telling, and indeed commendable, that the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and other credible international bodies have refused to legitimise this charade. The refusal underscores the manifestly political and divisive nature of this scheme, which is devoid of any genuine humanitarian imperative.

The US government’s pretence that this is an exercise in refugee protection is as transparent as it is insulting. If additional personnel were truly needed to process any legitimate resettlement cases, such expertise could be sourced locally, thereby creating opportunities for South Africans rather than importing what are plainly foreign agents to execute Washington’s agenda.

Equally disturbing is the racially selective framing of this initiative, which pointedly excludes black and coloured Afrikaners from the supposed beneficiary group. This exclusion lays bare the ideological underpinnings of the project: to exploit a narrow segment of South African society as geopolitical pawns, all while stoking division and resentment among our people.

Tebogo Khaas, chairperson of Public Interest SA said: “This is not the first time the US has resorted to underhanded tactics in our region. The Trump administration’s prior decision to send convicted criminals into neighbouring Eswatini, destabilising relations between our countries, stands as an ominous precedent. The current effort is cut from the same reckless cloth — a thinly veiled attempt to embarrass our government, malign our democracy, and deepen fissures in our social fabric.”

“That these Nairobi-based workers have applied for volunteer visas — despite the clear evidence that they would be remunerated — demonstrates the US State Department’s expectation that South African authorities should bend or subvert our own immigration laws to suit foreign political objectives. This arrogant presumption is as offensive as it is unlawful.

The people of South Africa will not be duped. We reject any foreign power’s attempt to manipulate our migration processes to serve its own parochial and racially skewed interests. We call on the South African government to stand firm, uphold the rule of law, and refuse to grant these visas,” added Khaas.

Public Interest SA views this matter as yet another symptom of Washington’s increasingly hostile posture toward our country — one underscored by its most recent country report, which was riddled with exaggerations, distortions, and factual inaccuracies. We will not allow South Africa’s democratic sovereignty to be compromised by a superpower that cloaks its bullying in the language of humanitarianism.

South Africa belongs to its people — not to the whims of a foreign administration that sees us as a convenient stage for its ideological theatre.

ENDS

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📸 Illustrative image | The Harry S. Truman Federal Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of State. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) | Silhouettes of fleeing people. (Photo: iStock)

Issued by: Public Interest SA Communications

Media enquiries: media@publicinterestsa.org.za

Contact: +2784 566 5400