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Ramaphosa Hits Back At Trump Over Land Seizure Claims

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa hit back at his United States counterpart, Donald Trump...


By Abubakar Umar Mahmud

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa hit back at his United States counterpart, Donald Trump over the latter’s threat to cut funding to the African nation after accusing it of “impounding” land and “treating certain classes of people very badly.”

President Trump on Sunday announced he was cutting off all future funding to the country pending an investigation.

Trump clarified that South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people very badly. He added that South Africa’s leadership is doing some terrible things.

In his response via his X handle, President Ramaphosa noted that the democratic nation of South Africa respects the rule of law, justice and equity, noting that the government hasn’t “confiscated any land.

With regards to the funding cut as disclosed by Trump, Ramaphosa, while acknowledging the United State as a significant “political and trade partner,” corrected that South Africa only benefits from the United State-funded “PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes seventeen percent of South Africa’s HIVAids programme.

His tweets read, “South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality. The South African Government has not confiscated 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.

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. We look 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 of these matters.

According to AFP, the land issue in South Africa has long been divisive, with efforts to redress the inequality of white-rule drawing criticism from conservatives including the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and is a powerful Trump adviser.

Punch News noted that last month, Ramaphosa signed a bill that stipulates the government may, in certain circumstances, offer “nil compensation” for property it decides to expropriate in the public interest.

Pretoria argues the bill does not allow the government to expropriate property arbitrarily and must first seek to reach an 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.

Land ownership is a contentious issue in South Africa with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid.

Since then land courts have adjudicated on a handful of land disputes and, after exhaustive processes, returned land to previously displaced owners.

Trump has surrounded himself with powerful Silicon Valley figures who came of age in apartheid southern Africa, like David Sacks, his newly-appointed artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, who co-founded PayPal along with Musk.

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