Trump halts aid to South Africa citing new land law
President Trump signed an executive order formally halting all aid to South Africa and urged his Cabinet to come up with a resettlement program for Afrikaners who he claims "are victims of unjust racial discrimination,” citing the country’s new land law intended to combat the racist apartheid era.
In the executive order, which the president inked on Friday, he hammered South Africa for allegedly seizing “ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.” He also went after the nation for taking “aggressive positions” positions against Israel, a U.S. ally, namely over accusing the Jewish State of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The order states that as long as South Africa’s “unjust and immoral practices” are in place, the U.S. “shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa and the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation."
South Africa has come under the ire of Trump in recent weeks, with the president alleging that the Expropriation Act, which was signed into law by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month, is a ”massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see” last weekend. He accused the government of confiscating “land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.”
In that same post on Truth Social, Trump also indicated he would eventually cut aid, writing “I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
The South African legislation, which was signed in to law in January, permits the government to seize land without compensation where it is "just and equitable and in the public interest" to do so.
Ramaphosa pushed back on Trump’s assertions on Monday, saying the law 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.”
“South Africa, like the United States of America and other countries, has always had expropriation laws that balance the need for public usage of land and the protection of rights of property owners,” Ramaphosa wrote. “We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest.”
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, also went after Ramaphosa for signing the legislation, asking on X “Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?”
In light of the tensions between Trump and Ramphosa, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on Thursday that he will not attend the G20 summit of foreign ministers in Johannesburg later this month.
“I will NOT attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg,” Rubio said. “South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.’ In other words: DEI and climate change.”
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