Don’t harm SA’s people when targeting their government, IRR urges US

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has written to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to urge him to take care to distinguish between the government of South Africa and its people when weighing changes in US foreign policy towards Pretoria.

The IRR has shared with the State Department results of its race relations polling report, IRR Polling 2026: Race and Race Relations in South Africa, which highlights the variance between the political opinions of South Africans and the sentiments of the government, and pointing out the extent to which ordinary citizens have become victims of the very government policies that have attracted the US’s visa restrictions. These policies include race laws and expropriation without compensation legislation. 

Says Makone Maja, IRR strategic engagements manager: “The Institute’s plea to the US is that South Africans should not be assumed to hold the same views as their government, nor should policies directed at changing government behaviour inadvertently impose costs on citizens who themselves oppose the policies in question.”

South Africans were polled on their views on race laws and on claims of “white genocide”. 

Seventy per cent of respondents said that the government should not continue using apartheid-era racial categories to determine who qualifies for business and job opportunities. This view was shared by 64% of black respondents, 85% of coloured respondents, 74% of Indian respondents, and 97% of white respondents.

Furthermore, 72% of South Africans rejected the claim that a “white genocide” was occurring in the country, while 19% agreed with it. Even among white respondents – the group which it could be argued might benefit from advancing such a claim – 50% disagreed and 37% agreed.

An overwhelming number of South Africans support interracial cooperation as key to driving progress in the country, with 89% of respondents agreeing that people of different races need one another for progress and that there should be full opportunity for people of all colours. These findings indicate that racial rhetoric employed by political actors should not automatically be understood as representing the attitudes of the South African population, as 77% also agreed that politicians use racism and colonialism to excuse their failures.

The IRR has brought to Secretary Rubio’s attention the reflection of government failure in the one million title-deeds backlog to demonstrate that property rights are threatened not just by the risk of land seizures, but in other ways, too.

Maja concludes: “These are some of the reasons why it is important that the United States distinguish between the South African government and the South African people. The US has the prerogative to determine its foreign policy in accordance with its interest and values; our request is that South African public opinion be afforded the appropriate weight in that process.”

Media contact: Makone Maja, IRR Strategic Engagements Manager Tel: 079 418 6676 Email: makone@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris IRR Head of Media Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za