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Trump claims ‘certain classes of people’ in South Africa treated ‘very badly’, cuts funds
The US president has surrounded himself with powerful Silicon Valley figures who came of age in apartheid-era southern Africa
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US President Donald Trump has announced he will cut off all future funding to South Africa pending an investigation, after claiming that the country was “confiscating” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly”.
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The land issue in South Africa has long been divisive, with efforts to redress the inequality of white-rule drawing criticism from conservatives including Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, who was born in South Africa and is a powerful Trump adviser.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month signed a bill that stipulates the government may, in certain circumstances, offer “nil compensation” for property it decides to expropriate in the public interest.
“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
Pretoria argues the bill does not allow the government to expropriate property arbitrarily and must first seek to reach agreement with the owner.
However, some groups fear a situation similar to the Zimbabwe government’s seizure of white-owned commercial farms, often without compensation, after independence in 1980.
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