By Zukile Majova
- Trump cuts financial aid to South Africa, saying the country abuses human rights and mistreats its people.
- Hunter Biden’s Cape Town holiday starts Trump’s fresh attack and withdrawal of security protection.
Donald Trump has launched another attack on South Africa, calling the country a human rights abuser.
The United States President criticised the country after hearing that Hunter Biden, son of former president Joe Biden, was on holiday in Cape Town.
“Where is he exactly… ah, in South Africa. South Africa, as you know, is on a watch list because what they are doing to people is brutal,” said Trump on Monday.
He also pulled the security detail assigned to Hunter and his sister Ashley.
“He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the human rights of people have been strenuously questioned,” said Trump.
“Because of this, South Africa has been taken off our list of countries receiving economic and financial assistance.”
Hunter’s wife Melissa was born in South Africa.
Trump’s statement goes against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s claim that the tensions between the two countries are just a “hiccup” that is being sorted out.
It has been more than a month since 2 February, when Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that South Africa has been “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.”
He also announced the US would stop all future funding to South Africa until the matter is fully investigated.
Soon after, Trump withdrew HIV/Aids funding from South Africa, cutting 17% of the country’s national budget for Aids research and treatment.
Trump’s interest in South Africa dates back to 2018 when he ordered then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to investigate alleged land grabs and claims of a white farmer genocide.
Just last week, the Trump administration expelled the South African ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, accusing him of hating America and Trump.
Pictured above: Donald Trump.
Image source: File
