US President, Donald Trump has said he will cut off future funding to South Africa for “confiscating” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly” pending an investigation.
The land issue in South Africa has long been divisive, with efforts to redress the inequality of white-rule drawing criticism from conservatives including the world’s wealthiest person and Trump adviser, Elon Musk. who was born in South Africa.
South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa signed a bill last month that stipulates the government may, in certain circumstances, offer “nil compensation” for property it decides to expropriate in the public interest.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
However, the South African government argues the bill does not allow the government to expropriate property arbitrarily and must first seek to reach an agreement with the owner.
Some groups fear a situation similar to the Zimbabwe government’s seizure of white-owned commercial farms, often without compensation, after independence in 1980.
Later, in a briefing with journalists, Trump said that South Africa’s “leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things” without giving examples.
“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 is a contentious issue in South Africa with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid.
Since then land courts have adjudicated on a handful of land disputes and, after exhaustive processes, returned land to previously displaced owners.
According to the South African government, the 1913 Natives Land Act saw thousands of Black families forcibly removed from their land by the apartheid regime.
The delicate issue has been a particular rallying point for the right, with various conservative figures including Musk and right-wing journalist Katie Hopkins championing the cause of white land-owners.
Musk was born in Pretoria on 28 June 1971, to an engineer father and a Canadian-born model mother, leaving the country in his late teens.
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