Bozell: Ramaphosa must condemn ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ chant
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.
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.
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.
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.
We made these asks in December of 2025. Nine months later, South Africa still had not responded,
Bozell said.
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.
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.