President Cyril Ramaphosa has said South Africans who travel abroad to spread claims of a “white genocide” are not acting in the country’s interest.
He made the remarks in his weekly newsletter on Monday.
The newsletter came out on the same day a delegation from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) began a five-day mission in South Africa.
Ramaphosa said spreading the claim in foreign capitals, and discouraging investment in one’s own country, was “neither responsible nor patriotic”.
He said this was damaging when unemployment was high and the country needed to grow the economy and attract investment.
He did not name any person or organisation.
His comments come as relations with Washington remain strained. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently announced visa restrictions on people linked to South African laws and policies that, according to Washington, enable racial discrimination.
Ramaphosa also rejected comparisons between redress and apartheid.
He said there was no equivalence between constitutionally grounded redress measures and apartheid laws that were designed to enforce racial exclusion and dispossession.
The newsletter linked last week’s Heritage Day celebrations to the constitutional values of non-racialism, non-sexism, equality, democracy and human dignity.
Ramaphosa said these values were as much a part of the country’s heritage as its languages, cultures and traditions.
He said violence against women could not be allowed to define South Africa.
“The abuse, rape and killing of women is a stain on our national conscience,” he said.
He said the country could not claim to be founded on freedom and dignity while half its population lived in fear of violence.
On freedom of expression, Ramaphosa said the right came with responsibility.
He said the public humiliation of women was not harmless, because it reinforced the attitudes that sustain discrimination and violence.
He also warned against inflammatory statements about foreign nationals. He called them “dangerous and irresponsible” at a time when undocumented migration was fuelling social tensions.
Ramaphosa said South Africa refused to be defined by xenophobia. He said the peoples of Africa had supported the liberation struggle and the country remained committed to African unity.
But he said migration must take place within the law. Government had to manage the borders effectively, and everyone living in South Africa had to respect its laws.
He said language that glorifies killing or encourages hostility had no place in public life, given the country’s high levels of violent crime.
The message follows a violent weekend. Police say 18 people have now died after a mass shooting at a tavern in Wedela on the West Rand. On Sunday, the body of an 11th woman since July was found in Ekurhuleni.
The ACHPR delegation arrived on Sunday. Its promotion mission runs from 28 September to 2 October.
The mission opened on Monday with a high-level entry meeting and a ministerial plenary at the OR Tambo Building in Pretoria.
It is carried out under Article 45(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The provision mandates the commission to promote human rights through research, country visits and dialogue with member states.
Government said it welcomed the mission as a chance to explain the country’s constitutional, legislative and policy measures to protect human rights.