President Donald Trump has said he would be cutting off all future funding to South Africa due to poor treatment of “certain classes of people.”
He said this on Sunday in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
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The American leader claimed that South Africa is seizing land and mistreating some of its citizens without concerns about the violations of their rights.
“The United States won’t stand for it, we will act,” he said.
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Although Mr Trump did not explicitly say so, he is believed to be defending White South Africans, some of whom have alleged that the South African policy is unfair to them.
In South Africa, one of the legacies of the Apartheid system is a profound inequality in land ownership.
White South Africans comprise less than 10 per cent of the country’s population but own about 72 per cent of its agricultural land. The 1913 Native Lands Act made it illegal for Africans to acquire land outside the reserves, known as “homelands”.
Since the end of apartheid in 1994, the country has been making efforts to address historical disparities.
However, the government’s efforts to speed up the process through an expropriation without compensation policy have been highly controversial, sparking backlash from conservative figures.
Among the critics is Elon Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur born in South Africa, who has close ties with the US president.
Earlier, in 2018, Mr Trump condemned efforts to redistribute land, arguing they undermine property rights.
In his recent post, Mr Trump did not specify what aid to South Africa would be cut off but stated that this measure would be in place until an investigation had been conducted.
“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.
“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” he said.
South Africa responds
South Africa responded to Mr Trump’s stance by saying that its expropriation policy was not exceptional.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country said it hoped that the US would make a fair and informed decision based on its investigations.
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“We trust President Trump’s advisors will make use of the investigative period to attain a thorough understanding of South Africa’s policies within the framework of a constitutional democracy.
“This approach will promote a well-informed viewpoint that values and recognizes our nation’s dedication to democratic ideals and governance. It may become clear that our expropriation act is not exceptional, as many countries have similar legislation,” the statement read.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has consistently maintained that the government’s policies will be carried out responsibly to ensure that they do not harm food security or economic growth.
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