US ambassador urges Ramaphosa to condemn ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ chant

US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell III has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to publicly condemn the “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” chant, calling it an incitement to violence.

Ambassador repeats US request despite court ruling

Speaking in an interview with the SABC, Bozell said the United States wanted South Africa to denounce “all incitements to violence,” even though the Constitutional Court had ruled that the song was not hate speech. He said:

“I understand what the court said. This doesn’t mean the president can’t say, look, any court in the United States makes a decision that the president can disagree with.”

On the chant specifically, Bozell told the SABC:

“But it is the idea of inciting violence. The entire world sees that phrase as an incitement to violence.”

Five US asks and strained relations

Bozell said the United States presented South Africa with five “asks” in December 2025. According to him, the issues covered the US refugee programme, expropriation without compensation, the “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” chant, rural farm safety and economic participation by US companies.

He said two matters had effectively been resolved the refugee programme was “no longer an issue” and the expropriation matter was before the courts while Washington remained concerned about the other issues. Bozell said:

“We made these asks in December of 2025. Nine months later, South Africa still had not responded.”

Reflecting on diplomacy in Washington, Bozell said he spoke with former President Donald Trump and with Senator Marco Rubio, and relayed their message to Ramaphosa:

“They let me know unequivocally, they’ve run out of patience.”

Rural safety and offers of support

Bozell defended US concerns about violence affecting farming communities and said Washington wanted to work with the South African government on rural safety. He said he presented Ramaphosa with three concepts, including a plan developed by the South African government, and that the US was prepared to help fund efforts to improve safety.

Describing conversations with farmers, Bozell said he had spoken to one farmer who told him he had been attacked and now slept with a gun. He said:

“I would say that crime in South Africa is horrific. No one’s going to disagree with me on that.”

He added that in some rural areas there was “so little police activity” and that private organisations and individuals had taken on responsibilities to protect themselves.

Visa restrictions and next steps

On recently announced US visa restrictions affecting some South Africans, Bozell said the US would not publish the names of those affected, explaining:

“No. One, by law, we can’t give it. Secondly, even if we could, it’s our policy not to.”

He noted names could be added or removed and therefore would not be published.

Bozell said the future of the bilateral relationship depended on South Africa’s response to Washington’s concerns and warned that the time for further discussion on some issues had passed:

“The time for dialogue has ended… These five asks were so simple. If we can’t get by something so simple, I don’t know how we can ever tackle the hard ones.”