South Africa remains willing to negotiate with Washington despite new US visa restrictions that caught Pretoria by surprise while talks on mining investment were making progress, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Friday.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Lamola said discussions had included ways to accommodate new US investors in South Africa’s mining industry, alongside concerns about Black employment and ownership requirements.
Those talks were advancing when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa curbs targeting South Africans over the country’s laws and policies. Rubio did not specify who would face the restrictions.
“South Africa remains open to engage with the U.S. administration on all the issues that they have put on the table,” Lamola said.
“We are predictable and reliable partners, and we see the U.S. as an important strategic partner.”
The dispute adds to tensions over South Africa’s racial equality measures, land reform policies and genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
President Donald Trump’s administration has criticised policies intended to address racial inequality, arguing that they discriminate against white South Africans.
Lamola said Pretoria wanted to avoid a “tit-for-tat war” over visas because of the importance of economic ties, although he described Washington’s approach as unpredictable.
“You can’t be confident of anything with the current administration, and it’s not only Pretoria. I think all countries of the world, the friends and foes of the US view it the same,” he said.
The foreign minister also criticised Washington’s resettlement programme for white Afrikaners, calling it “race-based” and questioning their treatment as refugees. Some participants continued to visit South Africa after moving abroad, he said.
Nevertheless, Pretoria would neither prevent nor interfere with citizens choosing to join the programme, Lamola added.
On the case against Israel, he said proceedings must follow their own course and be decided by the court. International law should serve as an “equalizer amongst nations, big and small,” he said.
Following the September 15 announcement of the visa restrictions, the US ambassador to South Africa warned that they were “only the first step in a series of escalatory measures” and said the time for endless dialogue had passed.
Lamola rejected that position.
“If you can’t dialog and you want to declare that dialog has run its course, you are in the wrong profession — you are not a diplomat,” he said.
Whether relations recover ultimately depends on Washington, he added.
