US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday he is cutting all future funding to South Africa, criticising the country for “confiscating” land and mistreating certain groups.
This follows South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of a bill last month allowing the government to expropriate land without compensation in specific cases.
Trump stated on his Truth Social platform that funding will be halted until a full investigation into the matter is completed. He wrote:
South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. 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!
Pretoria argues that the bill does not permit the government to expropriate property arbitrarily and requires an agreement with the owner first.
However, some groups fear a scenario similar to Zimbabwe’s seizure of white-owned commercial farms during the Fast-Track Land Reform Programme under Robert Mugabe at the turn of the millennium.
Later, in a briefing with journalists, Trump said that South Africa’s “leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things” without providing examples. He said:
So that’s under investigation right now. We’ll make a determination, and until such time as we find out what South Africa is doing — they’re taking away land and confiscating land, and actually, they’re doing things that are perhaps far worse than that.
Land ownership in South Africa remains a contentious issue, with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after apartheid ended.
The South African government says the 1913 Natives Land Act forcibly removed thousands of Black families from their land during the apartheid era.
The Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 in South Africa allows the government to expropriate property for public purposes or in the public interest.
This new law replaces the 1975 Expropriation Act and aims to align with the Constitution. It sets out the procedures for expropriation and specifies that compensation must be just and equitable, although in certain cases, no compensation may be required.
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