The U.S. State Department has criticized South African politicians, saying their rhetoric has endangered Afrikaners after two attacks on White farmers near Johannesburg. A 50-year-old man was reportedly tortured, while a 55-year-old woman was allegedly beaten to death.
A department spokesperson said politicians who encourage race-based violence had put Afrikaners’ lives and property at risk.
The dispute adds to tensions between Washington and Pretoria that flared last year during a meeting between President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Their discussion touched on several issues, including the safety of the Afrikaner community.
Ian Cameron, chair of South Africa’s parliamentary police committee and a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance, described this month’s attacks as appalling.
One victim, Donovan Marx, was at his farm about 80 miles from Johannesburg. Cameron said reports indicated Marx had been shot and stabbed, and that his ears had been cut. He called the attack exceptionally cruel.
In a separate incident earlier this month in North West Province, farmer Hannetjie van Zyl, 55, was reportedly killed while opening a gate. Witnesses said she was approached from behind and struck repeatedly with an iron bar.
Both victims’ vehicles and belongings were reportedly stolen. But Corné Mulder, leader of the opposition Freedom Front Plus, said the allegations of torture in Marx’s case went beyond an ordinary burglary. Mulder said Marx was in hospital fighting for his life and that the attackers had also tried to castrate him.
Both victims were White, but public figures have not alleged that the attacks were racially motivated.
Cameron said farm attacks were not isolated incidents. He said he had visited crime scenes where people were allegedly tortured with boiling water, burned with clothing irons and subjected to other severe abuse.
He called on the South African Police Service to assign experienced investigators, forensic support and intelligence resources to the cases, saying such violence should not be treated as a normal part of life.
Mulder also condemned the reported torture and criticized Ramaphosa for not publicly acknowledging the attacks or expressing sympathy. He said his party had repeatedly urged the government to make rural crime and farm attacks a priority, but that it had not done so.
The South African government was asked to comment and referred the inquiry to police. Police did not immediately respond.
Mulder connected the attacks to Ramaphosa’s refusal last year to stop crowds from singing “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer.” “Boer” refers to a South African of Dutch or Huguenot descent.
Ramaphosa has said he cannot prohibit the song from being performed in stadiums, where crowds can number as many as 90,000, because the country’s highest court ruled that its lyrics do not amount to hate speech.
Mulder argued that attacks would continue unless Ramaphosa acted against what he described as incitement to target farmers through the song. Last month, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Brent Bozell III said Ramaphosa could still ban it despite the court ruling.
The State Department reiterated its call for South African officials to condemn what it described as incitement to racial violence, including performances of the song.
The department said Trump had also urged South Africa to classify rural crime as a priority and broaden alternatives to ownership rules under Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, including equity-equivalent investment programs.
The spokesperson said South African politicians had threatened to take farmers’ land without compensation and backed an employment scoring system that the department characterized as discriminatory toward Afrikaners and other minorities.
The spokesperson said the South African government’s response to U.S. requests showed it was not seeking a constructive relationship and was prepared to continue policies the department viewed as oppressive and harmful to South Africans.
During fiscal year 2026, nearly 13,000 South African refugees, most of them Afrikaners, were brought to the United States. The number is expected to rise by a further 17,500 in fiscal year 2027.
The State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration was prioritizing the resettlement of Afrikaners fleeing what it described as government-sponsored racial discrimination.
