The newly elected Donal Trump had put a post on the Truth Social page stating that “I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed! ”
He put allegations on “South Africa” that it “is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.” He further added that “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!”
Donald Trump citing “South Africa is confiscating land” referring to the act that President Cyril Ramaphosa signed, the Expropriation Act in January which allows the government to expropriate land in the public interest and introduce the ability to do so with ‘nil compensation’.
The government is giving assurances that land rights are still safe under the new laws but the Act has been met with a lot of backlash including from political parties that are serving as part of the Government of National Unity.
The United States has nearly funded $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023 as per the most recent US government data so Trump’s decision to cut funds completely from South Africa will put them on edge.
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As a response to Trump’s post, South Africa’s foreign ministry said that “we trust President Trump’s advisers will make use of the investigative period to attain a thorough understanding of South Africa’s policies within the framework of a constitutional democracy. It may become clear that our expropriation act is not exceptional, as many countries have similar legislation.”
