Scrap race laws for SA’s sake, not Washington’s – IRR

The new US visa restrictions on South Africans linked to race-based laws and expropriation without compensation come as no surprise. Washington set out its concerns in February 2025. In the 19 months since, Pretoria has left the laws in question untouched.

The IRR does not share Washington’s focus on Afrikaners or any other minority, a point the IRR made when the executive order appeared in February 2025. Race laws and threats to property directly harm South Africans in every government-defined race group.

As shown in a 2026 report by IRR Legal, Racial Discrimination in the Police Service, the single race group facing the greatest impediment to promotion at the largest employer in the country is, to use the official term, “black African”.

There are 40,862 black police officers facing obstacles to promotion due to “over-representation” of black people, according to the Employment Equity Act (EEA), a BEE race law. By contrast there are 12,606 white police officers facing similar obstacles. Furthermore, there are umpteen recorded instances of government jobs advertising overt preference for “white males” pursuant to BEE.

These race laws are not only directly harmful, but also have painful second-order effects, holding back growth and investment, while denying people opportunities because of their race or gender.

Similarly, the Expropriation Act does not in any way single out white people, or any language-based subset thereof. As the court record indicates, the clearest target group is black land-reform beneficiaries who face deductions in compensation, should they be expropriated, that may legally go as far as their being paid nothing for their land.

South Africa’s economy is in a dire state. Official unemployment rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, leaving 8.5 million people without work, and 47.4% of young people in the labour force not being able to find a job. The economy shrank by 0.2% over the same period, and investment fell for a second consecutive quarter.

These are the problems South Africa’s government should be addressing but isn’t.

Firms create jobs when they invest. Investors may take solace from court challenges to the laws intended to let the government seize land without paying for it, but will remain cautious until that challenge concludes safely.

At the same time, BEE employment equity rules and preferential procurement raise the cost of doing business and deter the investment the economy needs. They make race a condition of opportunity, which offends human dignity.

Independent polling commissioned by the IRR in April 2025 found that 68% of voters opposed the Expropriation Act, including 62% of black voters.* In March 2026, 70% said the government should stop using apartheid-era race categories to decide who qualified for jobs and business opportunities, including 64% of black voters.**

Regardless of what Washington does, the South African government should repeal the nil-compensation provisions of the Expropriation Act, which IRR Legal is challenging in the Western Cape High Court. It should also take up the IRR’s No More Race Laws Bill and replace BEE with Economic Empowerment for the Disadvantaged, which directs help to poor South Africans according to need.

The US ambassador has warned that further measures will follow. The government could avoid them by making changes that South Africa’s economy has needed for years, not just for its own sake but for the 8.5 million unemployed South Africans who have waited long enough.

* The survey was conducted among 807 registered voters in March and April 2025 and had a margin of error of 4%. The question asked was: “Do you support or oppose the current Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take property without paying the owner compensation in some cases, as recently passed in law?” 68.1% of all respondents said they strongly or somewhat opposed it, while 29.4% strongly or somewhat supported it. Among black respondents, 62% opposed it and 36% supported it.

** The survey was conducted among 1038 registered voters in March 2026 and had a margin of error of 3%. The question asked was: “During apartheid the government categorised every South African as white, black, coloured or Indian. Today the government sometimes uses those same race categories to decide who should qualify for business and job opportunities and who should not. Which of the following comes closest to your view on this issue?” 69.7% of all respondents said the government should NOT continue using race in this way, while 26.7% said it should. Among black respondents, 64% said it should not and 32% said it should.

Media contact: John Endres, IRR CEO Tel: +27 76 480 1290 Email: john.endres@irr.org.za

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