US President Donald Trump is frozen aid to South Africa with an escalation of the rift between his administration and Pretoria over a controversial land expropriation law aimed at addressing inequality stemming from apartheid.
In an executive order signed Friday, Trump said the law showed a “shocking disregard” of citizens’ rights, allowing the government to seize land from minority Africans without compensation.
Passing the expropriation law, signed last month by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, has driven violence against “racially disliked” landowners following “countless” policies designed to dismantle equal opportunities They followed the “hate rhetoric” and government actions. He said at his order.
South Africa has also taken away “aggressive stances” towards the US and its allies, including Israel’s denouncement at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and boosting relations with Iran, Trump ordered did.
“The United States cannot support the violation of the South African Government’s Rights Infringement Commission in a country, which poses a national security threat to our nation, allies, African partners and our interests. We cannot help undermine foreign policy,” he said in order.
Trump’s orders also said his administration would encourage African resettlement.
Trump and Ramaphosa have been engaged in an escalating war of words against the law since Sunday, when the US president accused the “confiscated land” and “a certain class of people” of abusing his counterparts.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would skip the 20 (G20) consultation in Johannesburg in response to laws happening in the country and other “very bad things.”
Ramaphosa argued that the law is part of a “constitutionally mandated legal process,” rather than a “means of confiscation,” and that it would ensure public access to the land in a “fair and fair manner.” He insisted.
In a speech to Congress on Thursday, which appears to be targeting Trump, Ramaphosa said they united amid an increase in “the pursuit of narrow interests” and “the decline of a common cause.”
“We’re not stopped. We’re resilient. We’re not going to be bullied,” he said.
Under the Expropriation Act, the government shall seize the land without compensation if it is not used or after an effort to reach an agreement with the owner, if it is deemed “fair, fair and in the public interest.” You can do it. Failed.
Ramaphosa and his African National Congress say laws are necessary to mitigate the large disparities in land ownership caused by colonial reconciliation and subsequent racism and white mineral rules. .
The government has not yet expropriated land under the law.
The Democratic Union (DA), South Africa’s largest opposition party and a member of the ANC-led national unified government, has strongly criticised the law and cast it as a threat to property rights and much-needed foreign investment.
The DA, which derives most of its support from white, Indian and multi-ethnic South Africans, also expressed concern about Trump’s threat, suggesting that the law would allow the land to be “arbitrarily” seized. I denied it.
Land ownership is a fierce issue in South Africa due to the apartheid heritage that lasted from 1948 to 1994.
According to a government audit conducted in 2017, black people in South Africa account for more than 80% of the population, but only 4% of privately owned farmland.
White South Africans, which make up about 7% of the population and are divided into Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Dutch settlers and English-speaking descendants of British colonialists, own about a quarter of the land. It’s there.
Trump’s campaign against South Africa is because his administration concludes more broadly with foreign aid, including effectively dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
According to the latest US government data, Washington allocated roughly $440 million in support for South Africa in 2023.
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