3 hours ago
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (left) and US President Donald Trump (Picture credit: AP)
US President Donald Trump signed an
executive order
Friday halting US assistance to
South Africa
, citing concerns over a newly enacted
land reform law
that the White House says discriminates against the country’s white minority.
“As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country,” the White House stated in a summary of the order.
The executive order references South Africa’s
Expropriation Act
, signed into law last month by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. As per the news agency AP, the law grants the government the authority to seize land in specific instances, such as when it is underutilised or when redistribution is deemed in the public interest, to correct historical injustices stemming from apartheid-era land dispossession.
However, Trump’s administration claims the law “blatantly discriminates against ethnic minority Afrikaners” and could lead to land seizures without compensation, according to the news agency AFP.
Trump’s close ally Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, has been vocal about the Expropriation Act, calling it a threat to the country’s white minority. Musk has also clashed with the South African government over policies requiring major companies, such as his Starlink satellite internet service, to allocate 30% equity to historically disadvantaged groups, reported AFP.
In addition to halting aid, Trump announced plans to establish a resettlement program for white South African farmers and their families, citing concerns over their safety and economic future. “The United States will promote the resettlement of
Afrikaner refugees
escaping government-sponsored
race-based discrimination
,” the executive order states.
The aid freeze also comes amid growing US-South Africa tensions on foreign policy. The executive order references South Africa’s role in bringing accusations of genocide against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a move that has deepened diplomatic rifts between Washington and Pretoria, as per AP.
Additionally, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has announced that he will skip upcoming G20 talks in South Africa, accusing the country’s government of pursuing an “anti-American” agenda.
The South African government has dismissed Trump’s claims as misinformation, arguing that the new land law does not authorize arbitrary confiscation but rather aims to correct deeply rooted economic disparities. The law remains a highly debated issue in South Africa, where most farmland is still owned by white citizens despite the end of apartheid three decades ago.
