South Africa on Monday rejected claims by US President Donald Trump, saying Pretoria did “not confiscate” any land.
“The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa in a statement.
“The South African government has not confiscated any land.”
Statement from Pretoria came after Trump Sunday threatened that he was cutting future funding to South Africa over alleged land confiscation and mistreatment of "certain classes of people."
"South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see," he said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump’s outburst came after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month signed the Expropriation Bill into law, replacing the pre-democratic Expropriation Act of 1975.
The new legislation outlines the process by which state entities can expropriate land in the public interest for various purposes.
Trump said the US will halt all funding to the country until a thorough investigation into the matter is completed.
However, Ramaphosa said South Africa was a “constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality.”
He clarified that South Africa was receiving only HIV/AIDS prevention funding.
“There is no other funding that is received by South Africa from the United States.”
“South Africa, like the United States of America and other countries, has always had expropriation laws that balance the need for public usage of land and the protection of rights of property owners,” said Ramaphosa, adding Pretoria looks forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest.
“We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters,” it stressed, calling the US a “key strategic political and trade partner for South Africa.”
Trump's advisors urged to ‘deepen their understanding’ of South Africa's policies
Pretoria argues the amended legislation replaces the apartheid-era Expropriation Act of 1975 to redress historical injustices related to land ownership in South Africa.
Apartheid was a system of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to 1994, where the white minority oppressed the non-white majority through discriminatory laws.
Separately, South Africa's Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola urged Trump’s advisors to use this “investigative period to deepen their understanding of South Africa's policies as a constitutional democracy.”
“Such insights will ensure a respectful and informed approach to our democratic commitments,” he said on X.
During the US president's first term, Ramaphosa said Trump was “ill-informed” on South Africa’s land issue, accusing “fringe groups” of lobbying in the US.
“Those people overseas that are taken in by this message of whites in South Africa being under threat, they are looking at South Africa through the lens of black versus white. And South Africa has long moved away from that,” Ramaphosa said in 2018.
