South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has responded to US President Donald Trump’s threats to cut funding to South Africa, accusing the country of “confiscating” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly”. Trump made the comments on his Truth Social platform, announcing that he would be cutting off all future funding to South Africa pending an investigation.
However, Ramaphosa has hit back, stating that the South African government has not confiscated any land and that the recently adopted Expropriation Act is a constitutionally mandated legal process aimed at ensuring public access to land in an equitable and just manner.
Ramaphosa also corrected Trump’s claims about US funding to South Africa, stating that the country only benefits from US-funded PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS programme.
The land issue in South Africa has long been a contentious one, with efforts to redress the inequality of white-rule drawing criticism from conservatives, including Elon Musk, a powerful Trump adviser.
Ramaphosa has signed a bill that stipulates the government may offer “nil compensation” for property it decides to expropriate in the public interest. However, Pretoria argues that the bill does not allow for arbitrary expropriation and that the government must first seek to reach an agreement with the owner.
The issue of land ownership in South Africa remains a delicate one, with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid. The South African government has acknowledged the historical injustices of the 1913 Natives Land Act, which saw thousands of Black families forcibly removed from their land by the apartheid regime.
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