News24 | AfriForum’s Kriel slams Pretoria’s demarche of US envoy Bozell as diplomatic rift deepens

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel.

Storm Simpson/News24

• AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel has called Dirco’s demarche of US ambassador Brent Bozell a “very, very stupid move”.
• A US government official confirmed Bozell was “called in” for consultation on Tuesday.
• Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni hit back at Bozell’s claim that Pretoria failed to respond to the five US demands, calling it a “self-contradiction”.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel has criticised Pretoria’s decision to demarche US ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell on Tuesday, after a week in which he lambasted his host government in a round of media interviews.

Kriel, a fierce critic of the South African government, took to X on Tuesday night to respond to a News24 report that Bozell had been called in for consultations by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco).

He wrote: “A very, very stupid move @DIRCO_ZA that goes against the interests of ordinary South Africans. Politicians in South Africa will continue to enrich themselves, while ordinary people will bear the brunt of this move. @USEmbassySA @USAmbRSA”

News24 reached out to Kriel on Wednesday morning to elaborate on his post, but his phone went to voicemail.

Late on Tuesday, News24 reported that the demarche had been confirmed by a US government official and by well-placed Dirco sources.

“Ambassador Bozell was ‘called in’ by Dirco to discuss the bilateral relationship,” the official told News24.

“He stressed that the United States has been clear about the relationship we seek. We are not interested in diplomatic manoeuvring, procedural delays or dialogue for dialogue’s sake.

“The ball is now squarely in the government of South Africa’s court to outline the relationship it wants with the United States and respond accordingly to President Trump’s executive order.”

Bozell has said repeatedly in media interviews that President Cyril Ramaphosa failed to respond meaningfully to five demands on domestic policy the White House has set as a condition for a diplomatic detente between Pretoria and Washington.

READ | UPDATE: Dirco demarches US ambassador to SA Bozell, again, after media blitz

He has also threatened further escalation after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on South African policymakers a fortnight ago.

South African diplomats have countered that Ramaphosa responded comprehensively to US President Donald Trump in a six-page letter earlier this month.

Bozell was demarched for undiplomatic conduct in March, shortly after he arrived in South Africa, for saying he believed the Kill the Boer song was hate speech, regardless of what the country’s courts had ruled in that regard.

In recent media interviews, Bozell has hammered in particular on Washington’s demand that Ramaphosa denounce the singing of this struggle song.

Trump declared diplomatic war on South Africa weeks into his second term as president, signing an executive order suspending aid to the country and offering asylum to Afrikaners.

Since then, Washington has doubled down on the fictitious narrative of state-sanctioned racial persecution of the minority group and rewritten refugee policy to restrict the US intake almost exclusively to Afrikaners.

READ | ‘Why don’t they leave?’ asks Ntshavheni of citizens complaining of persecution in SA

The present escalation dates back to late August, when Bozell met with Ramaphosa and pressed him to respond to Trump’s demands on domestic policy shifts within two weeks.

Ramaphosa’s letter reached Trump within this timeframe.

It was written as an update on the talks between the two countries and stressed South Africa’s commitment to further dialogue towards a mutually beneficial outcome.

South African diplomats have described Washington’s public response as at odds with constructive progress made in regular meetings between negotiating teams.

They have confirmed, as Bozell has, that Washington has further demands for concessions on foreign policy, including South Africa’s position on Israel, and are warily uncertain about what it will take to resolve the impasse with the White House.

Pretoria has repeatedly pointed to the damage caused by fringe Afrikaner groups that have lobbied Washington for years to pressure the government, and Bozell last week twisted the knife by meeting with AfriForum and praising the group for doing a “terrific job” on rural safety.

READ | Ramaphosa condemns ‘white genocide’ lobbying, language that ‘glorifies killing’

In his newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa accused those involved of harming the country at large.

“At a time when unemployment is high, and we need to grow our economy and attract investment, travelling to foreign capitals to spread the falsehood of a ‘white genocide’ and discourage investment in one’s own country is neither responsible nor patriotic.”

Also on Tuesday, News24 reported that Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, during a post-Cabinet briefing, addressed Bozell’s claims that South Africa failed to respond to Washington’s five demands to reset the fractured relationship between the two countries.

The five demands relate to the scrapping of broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) – or at least exempting US companies from the policy; doing away with expropriation without compensation; declaring farm killings a policing priority; and condemning the song Kill the Boer.

The fifth demand was that South Africa demonstrate non-alignment by distancing itself from the enemies of the US, with Iran topping the list.

Ntshavheni described this as a “self-contradiction” as Bozell told various media houses that some of the demands had been addressed.

Speaking specifically about B-BBEE, Ntshavheni said: “We’re not apologetic.”

“We have a responsibility to make sure the wealth of this country is shared by all who worked for it,” she said.

“And that’s why this country cannot belong economically to a few.”