Lamola says new US visa restrictions concerning

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola says they are concerned about the unilateral visa restrictions announced by his US counterpart Marco Rubio.

Rubio has announced new visa restrictions targeting those who are responsible for what they call, racially motivated crime and government sponsored discrimination against the Afrikaners and other minority groups.

Lamola says this aligns with the misrepresentation of South Africa’s domestic policy by groups that falsely present themselves as representatives of minorities and of Afrikaners in general.

Lamola has reaffirmed that bridging the divisions of the past and establishing a society founded on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights is a constitutional imperative.

He says Pretoria is committed to addressing the injustices of the past as a sovereign nation.

Lamola adds that legislation adopted during the democratic era aims to improve the living conditions of people who were excluded from opportunities for centuries.

This approach is consistent with practices in other countries that have had similar historical experiences, under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and to protect the dignity of all people.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) says it feels that many of the policies drafted and passed by the African National Congress, to which the US makes reference, to have not served the country well.

The latest visa restrictions are against South Africans responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable land expropriation without compensation and race-based discrimination amongst others.

DA MP serving on the International Relations Committee, Ryan Smith, says not all laws have promoted equality.

“We do not need any other country to hold a mirror to our face.

We can see the effects of failed domestic policy for ourselves.

The ANC does not need to be told by the USA that its policies are failing.

It only needs to look at its plummeting electoral support as more and more South Africans reject its policies and governance that have repeatedly failed us all.