South Africa's president, Elon Musk discuss land policy misinformation after Trump threatens to cut off aid
Trump on Sunday threatened to cut foreign aid to South Africa over alleged land confiscation and mistreatment of 'certain classes of people'

JOHANNESBURG
South Africa’s president spoke with US billionaire Elon Musk, who grew up in Pretoria and Durban, expressing concern over misinformation about the government's land reforms as expressed by US President Donald Trump, the presidency said on Tuesday.
Cyril Ramaphosa “reiterated South Africa’s constitutionally embedded values of the respect for the rule of law, justice, fairness, and equality,” the presidency said in a short message on X following his Monday phone call with Musk, who owns X as well as other companies.
On Sunday, Trump threatened to cut foreign aid to South Africa, claiming on his Truth Social platform: "South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. ... A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see.”
Ramaphosa denied the allegations, saying South Africa in fact 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,” Ramaphosa said in a separate statement on Monday, referring to a law passed last month.
“The South African government has not confiscated any land.”
Musk, a close ally of Trump, has also been critical of South Africa’s government.
Land is a sensitive issue in South Africa, where the majority of natural resources are concentrated in the hands of a few white people. During the apartheid era, Black people and non-whites were forcefully ousted from their land by racist policies.
Even after the fall of apartheid, to this day, most commercial farms in the country are also owned by white people.
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