US president Donald Trump has accused the South African government of “treating certain classes of people very badly,” announcing he was cutting off all future funding to the country until the matter is fully investigated.
Trump’s intervention into one of South Africa’s most divisive issues was rebuffed by president Cyril Ramaphosa’s government and criticized by groups across its political spectrum. Land ownership in South Africa remains highly unequal, a legacy of white minority rule that governments have struggled to tackle since the first multi-racial elections in 1994. Last month, Ramaphosa signed a new bill allowing the government to offer “nil compensation” in certain circumstances for land it expropriates in the public interest. Adding to the earlier announced temporary freeze on almost all foreign assistance as part of his “America First” agenda, Trump has now said that he was also “cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
Ramaphosa responded by stating in a tweet that “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.” He also asserted that “the recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution.” Elon Musk also joined the fray, accusing South Africa of having ‘openly racist ownership laws’. In fact, also some groups in South Africa have warned the recently adopted law could lead to a situation like in neighboring Zimbabwe where the government’s seizure of white-owned commercial farms was often conducted without compensation after the country’s independence in 1980.