US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell says President Cyril Ramaphosa must condemn the “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” chant as an incitement to violence, despite the Constitutional Court having ruled that the song was not hate speech.
In an interview with SABC, Bozell said the United States’ position was that South Africa should condemn all incitements to violence, arguing that the issue remained one of the five outstanding demands Washington had put to the South African government.
“I understand what the court said. This doesn't mean the president can't say, look, any court in the United States makes a decision that the president can disagree with,” Bozell said.
“But it is the idea of inciting violence. The entire world sees that phrase as an incitement to violence.”
Bozell said Washington had asked Ramaphosa to condemn the chant and had not asked South Africa to disregard the courts.
“Our position, and we stated this to the president, is to denounce all incitements to violence,” he said.
“Find something the Boers have said and say the exact same thing about that song. We're talking about incitements to violence.”
His comments come amid deteriorating relations between South Africa and the United States, with Bozell saying he was disappointed that efforts to improve the relationship had not produced the results he expected.
He said the United States had presented South Africa with five “asks” in December 2025, covering the US refugee programme, expropriation without compensation, the “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” chant, rural farm safety and economic participation by US companies.
According to Bozell, two of the issues had effectively been resolved, with the refugee programme no longer an issue and the expropriation matter now before the courts.
He said the United States remained concerned about the other issues.
“We made these asks in December of 2025. Nine months later, South Africa still had not responded,” Bozell said.
“I visited with President Trump and with Secretary Rubio in Washington. They let me know unequivocally, they've run out of patience.”
Bozell said he had taken that message to Ramaphosa and told him that the US needed a response.
“When the response came, they were ignored. They were simply ignored,” he said.
Bozell defends US position on rural crime
Bozell also defended Washington’s concerns about violence affecting farming communities, saying the US wanted to work with the South African government on rural safety.
He said he had presented Ramaphosa with three concepts, including a plan developed by the South African government, and said the US was prepared to help fund efforts to improve safety.
Bozell said he had recently spoken to a farmer who told him he had been attacked and now slept with a gun.
“I would say that crime in South Africa is horrific. No one's going to disagree with me on that,” he said.
But he argued that the US was particularly concerned about rural farming communities where he said there was limited police activity.
“What we're saying, where the rural farm community is concerned, where there is so little police activity, so little. You've had private organisations, private individuals who have taken on the responsibility of trying to save their lives while they're farming,” Bozell said.
He rejected suggestions that the US position was primarily about accessing South Africa’s critical minerals or the telecommunications sector.
“Anybody who says that ,is demagoguing this. It's just simply not true,” he said.
Bozell said the US wanted its companies to be allowed to compete on the same terms as other companies and argued that greater investment would create jobs and opportunities in South Africa.
US says visa names will not be released
On the recently announced visa restrictions affecting some South Africans, Bozell said the US would not release the names of those affected.
“No. One, by law, we can't give it. Secondly, even if we could, it's our policy not to,” he said.
He said names could be added or removed and therefore would not be published.
Bozell said the future of the relationship ultimately depended on South Africa’s response to Washington’s concerns.
“I think at this point, South Africa has to make a move on this,” he said.
“We've been trying since January of 2025. And every step has been taken by the United States.”
He said the US was still seeking a partnership with South Africa but believed that the time for further discussion on some of the issues had passed.
“The time for dialogue has ended,” Bozell said.
“These five asks were so simple. If we can't get by something so simple, I don't know how we can ever tackle the hard ones.”
Bozell said issues such as Israel would require more complex negotiations, but maintained that the five demands were matters he believed could have been resolved more easily.
