President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will contact the US leader to clarify the recently passed Expropriation Act and other bilateral issues
US President Donald Trump has announced that he is halting funding to South Africa, accusing the country’s government of “confiscating” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly.”
Trump announced the decision in a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, accusing Pretoria of a “massive human rights violation.”
“The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” he declared.
Last month, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a contentious bill allowing the government to expropriate property without compensation in certain circumstances. The new law aims to address racial disparities in land ownership, a long-standing issue in Africa’s most advanced economy since Apartheid ended in 1994. The government has set a target of transferring 30% of farmland from white farmers, who still own the majority of it, to their black counterparts by 2030. The South African government says that during the Apartheid era, thousands of black families were forcibly removed from their land under the Natives Land Act of 1913.
While Pretoria argues that the Expropriation Act does not permit arbitrary expropriation and requires agreement with property owners, critics warn that it could result in a situation similar to Zimbabwe’s land seizures in the 1980s.
The pro-business Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s largest opposition group and one of the parties in Ramaphosa’s coalition government, has “strongly” opposed the new legislation, threatening court action.
On Sunday, Trump called the alleged mistreatment of “certain classes of people” a “bad situation that the radical left media doesn’t want to so much as mention.”
Pretoria has been under pressure from its Western partners, particularly the US, in recent years, in part due to its close ties with Russia. Last month, Fox News reported that a number of Republican lawmakers are demanding that Trump scrap the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows eligible sub-Saharan African countries, including South Africa, to export duty-free to the American market. Republican Party leaders have reportedly been drawing attention to Pretoria’s reluctance to align with Washington’s stance on international policy.
According to US government statistics, Washington set aside nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023.
In a statement on Monday, Ramaphosa said he will engage Trump about the land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest, referring to the US as a “key strategic political and trade partner for South Africa.”
“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 stated.
According to Ramaphosa, Pretoria does not receive any additional funding from Washington, except for the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which covers 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS program.
