By Dylan Bettencourt
- Donald Trump says he will stop giving money to South Africa because he claims the government is taking land unfairly.
- South Africa says Trump should learn more about the country’s laws before making such claims.
US President Donald Trump says he will stop giving money to South Africa because he thinks the government is taking people’s land unfairly.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a new law last month that allows the government to take land without compensation in some cases.
Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday: “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
President Cyril Ramaphosa responded by saying South Africa has not confiscated any land.
“South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality. The South African government has not confiscated any land,” stated Ramaphosa.
“We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest. We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters,” stated the president.
The South African government also hit back, saying there is nothing unusual about its new land law.
“We trust President Trump’s advisors will make use of the investigative period to attain a thorough understanding of South Africa’s policies within the framework of a constitutional democracy,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The government says it must first try to reach an agreement with landowners before taking any property. It cannot simply seize land at will.
Trump later told journalists that South Africa’s “leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things” but did not give any examples.
Land ownership remains a hot topic in South Africa. Most farmland is still owned by white people 30 years after apartheid ended.
The 1913 Natives Land Act saw thousands of Black families forced off their land by the apartheid government.
AfriForum in a statement said it is going to write an official letter to the United States government and request that the measures that President Donald Trump wants to introduce against South Africa should rather target senior ANC leaders directly and not South Africa’s residents.
Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, said his organisation has already warned President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC that the signing of the Expropriation Act will have serious negative implications for investor confidence in South Africa.
The issue has caught the attention of rich and powerful figures like Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and advises Trump. Musk left South Africa as a teenager during apartheid.
Other influential people close to Trump who grew up in southern Africa during apartheid include David Sacks, who now leads Trump’s work on artificial intelligence, and Peter Thiel, who lived in Namibia.
Pictured above: Donald Trump.
Source: File
This article has been updated.
