US President Donald Trump has mentioned he’ll lower all future funding to South Africa over allegations that it was confiscating land and “treating sure lessons of individuals very badly”.
Final month, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into legislation a invoice that permits land seizures with out compensation in sure circumstances.
Land possession has lengthy been a contentious difficulty in South Africa with most farmland nonetheless owned by white folks, 30 years after the top of the racist system of apartheid.
There have been continued requires the federal government to deal with land reform and cope with the previous injustices of racial segregation.
On Sunday, Trump wrote on social media platform Fact Social: “I might be chopping off all future funding to South Africa till a full investigation of this case has been accomplished!”
He later mentioned, in a briefing with journalists, that South Africa’s “management is performing some horrible issues, horrible issues”.
“In order that’s underneath investigation proper now. We’ll make a dedication, and till such time as we discover out what South Africa is doing — they’re taking away land and confiscating land, and truly they’re doing issues which are maybe far worse than that.”
South Africa’s Worldwide Relations Minister Ronald Lamola mentioned in a response on X that he hoped Trump’s advisers would use “this investigative interval to deepen their understanding of South Africa’s insurance policies as a constitutional democracy”.
“Such insights will guarantee a respectful and knowledgeable strategy to our democratic commitments,” he added.
The US allotted about $440m (£358m) in help to South Africa in 2023, in response to US authorities information.
The South African authorities says that the brand new legislation doesn’t permit arbitrary seizures of land because it should first try to succeed in an settlement with the proprietor.
The president’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, final month mentioned the state “could not expropriate property arbitrarily or for a objective apart from… within the public curiosity”.
It says that the present system of “prepared vendor, prepared purchaser” has allowed white farmers to delay the method of land reform.
Nevertheless, some critics have expressed fears that the legislation could have disastrous penalties like in Zimbabwe, the place land seizures wrecked the financial system and scared away buyers.