South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola has criticised the Trump administration’s policy offering resettlement opportunities to Afrikaners, arguing that the programme applies a racial distinction to South Africans.
Lamola made the remarks during a panel discussion at the African Diaspora Forum in Washington, DC, hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on 18 September 2026.
His comments came during a working visit to the United States ahead of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Lamola is leading South Africa’s delegation to the UN gathering and is also scheduled to engage US policymakers on economic diplomacy and bilateral relations.
The minister’s visit takes place against a backdrop of increasingly difficult relations between Pretoria and Washington, with the two governments disagreeing over land reform, transformation policies, minority rights and South Africa’s foreign policy.
Lamola questions race-based refugee policy
Addressing the forum, Lamola focused on South Africa’s multiracial constitutional democracy and argued that the country’s experience demonstrated that people from different racial and cultural backgrounds could coexist within one political system.
He then turned to the US programme for Afrikaners, arguing that the policy created a distinction based on race because it provides a pathway specifically for white South Africans of Afrikaner background.
Lamola described the approach as “Apartheid 2.0”, drawing a comparison with South Africa’s former apartheid system, which classified people according to race and imposed different rights and restrictions on different racial groups.
The comparison is part of a broader dispute between Pretoria and Washington over the treatment of minority groups in South Africa.
Lamola has previously criticised the US Afrikaner refugee programme, including in 2025, when he argued that the policy evoked memories of South Africa’s apartheid past.
The South African government has rejected claims that white South Africans are facing genocide and has disputed Washington’s characterisation of the country’s domestic policies.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has cited concerns about South African policies when explaining measures against the country. Recent US restrictions on certain South African officials were linked by Washington to issues including land expropriation without compensation and policies relating to racial transformation.
Diplomatic tensions continue to widen
The disagreement over the Afrikaner programme forms part of a wider deterioration in bilateral relations.
Lamola has since said that relations between South Africa and the United States have reached a critically low point, citing disputes over domestic policies, trade measures and competing human-rights narratives.
At the Washington forum, US Congressman Jonathan Jackson also criticised the US government’s approach to South Africa. In introducing Lamola, Jackson said there was no genocide against white people in South Africa and questioned the decision to impose restrictions on a country he described as an independent and sovereign democracy.
Jackson’s remarks represent his position and do not constitute the official position of the entire US government.
The US refugee programme remains a separate area of policy from the broader US Refugee Admissions Program, which publishes official admissions and arrivals data by nationality and fiscal year. The US Refugee Processing Center reported refugee admissions through the end of August 2026 in its latest available dataset.
Lamola’s visit is also aimed at maintaining engagement between the two governments despite the disagreements. His agenda includes economic diplomacy and bilateral relations, while his wider US trip includes South Africa’s participation in the UN General Assembly in New York.
The latest exchanges underline the extent to which domestic policy, race, migration and foreign affairs have become intertwined in the relationship between Pretoria and Washington.
For now, both sides continue to maintain sharply different positions on the issues, while diplomatic engagement remains ongoing.