By S’thembile Cele.
South Africa’s government slammed a report published by US President Donald Trump’s administration that said the human-rights situation in the African nation “significantly worsened” last year.
The review published by the State Department late on Tuesday echoed some of Trump’s ongoing criticisms of the country, which include false claims that Afrikaners are the victims of targeted killings and land was being unlawfully seized from the group by the government.
The rand traded 0.3% stronger at R17.54 per dollar by 9:51 a.m. in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
“We find the report to be an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of our constitutional democracy,” South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement. “The report’s reliance on a-contextual information and discredited accounts is highly concerning.”
Relations between South Africa and the US have been fraught since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Africa’s most industrialised economy is set to suffer the impact of one of the highest tariffs in the world imposed by the Trump administration, at 30%.
The State Department’s report was published on the same day that South Africa submitted a revised trade offer to the US in a bid to have it’s tariff reviewed.
The timing of the report isn’t ideal for nations such as South Africa and Brazil, which are involved in sensitive negotiations with the Trump administration, according to Ziyanda Stuurman, an adviser at Africa Practice.
“There are targeted rebukes of both South Africa and Brazil in the report, which shies away from criticism of some of Donald Trump’s and the US’s most controversial allies, that include El Salvador and Israel,” Stuurman said.
“There is very little to indicate that the content of the report itself hasn’t been influenced by the Trump administrations own stances toward various countries as opposed to the facts themselves reaching their own conclusions.”