The EFF and the South African government have come together to dismiss the recent United States State Department Human Rights Report, calling out the US for its hypocrisy on human rights issues. 

The report claimed that South Africa’s human rights record has “significantly worsened,” and  documented several instances of arbitrary or unlawful killings committed by the government or its agents. But both the EFF and government claim this assessment is flawed and biased.

It also claimed that the EFF incited violence against Afrikaner farmers, claiming that the party achieved this by reintroducing the contentious song “Kill the Boer” song at its gatherings and through other acts of incitement.

The report said that a provincial police commissioner confirmed in July that police had fatally shot at least 40 criminal suspects in shoot-outs since April. 

A January report from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was also referenced. 

This report detailed the 2021 unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, which led to 337 deaths and 3,400 arrests.

However, both the EFF and the the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) criticised the US report for applying double standard on human rights.

The EFF pointed out that the US has a history of using human rights narratives to justify sanctions, isolation, and even military aggression against other nations. 

“It is the same tactic used in Iraq under the lies of ‘weapons of mass destruction’, which left over a million people dead while US corporations looted oil fields,” EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said.

“The US has no moral standing to lecture any nation on human rights. This is a country that cages migrant children in detention centers; that has rolled back reproductive rights and stripped millions of women of the freedom to control their bodies,” 

The party also criticised the report for selectively presenting incidents of police brutality while ignoring the broader context of South Africa’s struggle against violent crime. 

“These cases, picked from our broader struggle against violent crime, are inflated to serve Washington’s narrative that our nation is unfit to govern itself,” the EFF said.

“This report was clearly crafted to smear South Africa for daring to assert its sovereignty, reclaim its land, and stand in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of the world, particularly the people of Palestine,” Thambo said.

The Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation’s spokesperson Chrispin Phiri also expressed profound disappointment with the report, describing it as “inaccurate and deeply flawed.” 

Phiri said the report’s reliance on contextual information and discredited accounts is highly concerning.

“The report cites an incident involving the deaths of farm workers and, despite the matter being actively adjudicated by our independent judiciary, misleadingly presents it as an extrajudicial killing,” Phiri explained.

The government noted that South Africa operates a transparent system where information is freely available from law enforcement agencies and Chapter 9 institutions, which are constitutionally mandated to protect and advance human rights.

The government also noted the irony that the US, having exited the UN Human Rights Council, would seek to produce one-sided fact-free reports without any due process or engagement.

“This is particularly striking given the significant and documented concerns about human rights within the United States, including the treatment of refugees and breaches in due process by its agencies, such as ICE,” the government said.

“In contrast to the US report, the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva has praised South Africa’s Land Expropriation Act, signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa, as a “critical step in addressing the country’s racially imbalanced land ownership”.

This recognition underscores the integrity of South Africa’s legislative processes aimed at rectifying historical injustices in a constitutional and human-rights-based manner,” Phiri said.

According to International Relations expert Dr. Rich Mashimbye, the relationship between South Africa and the US has faced continuous challenges since Donald Trump’s return to the White House. These tensions, he noted, stem from South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

“The Trump administration has been hostile towards SA, as seen with its false allegations that the SA government was ‘seizing land’ from its white citizens and the expulsion of Ebrahim Rasool, SA’s ambassador to the US, from that country by the Trump administration,” he said.

mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za

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