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US President Donald Trump has signed an order to freeze financial aid to South Africa, after threatening to do so earlier this week.
Trump said he was imposing the order because of South Africa’s new land law, which he says violates people’s rights, and also because of his international court case accusing Israel of genocide.
It escalates the dispute between the two countries nearly a week after Trump threatened to cut funding without citing evidence, saying that “South Africa is grabbing land” and “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly”.
Trump’s close advisor Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, also joined the criticism, asking X why Ramaphosa had “discriminatory ownership laws”.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has yet to make a statement but previously defended South Africa’s land policy after Trump’s threat on Sunday.
He said the government has not seized any land and the policy aims to ensure citizens have equal access to land.
President Ramaphosa’s law was signed last month, and allows for land expropriation without compensation in certain circumstances.
Land ownership has long been a contentious issue in South Africa, with most private farms owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the apartheid system.
There have been repeated calls for the government to address land reform and address past apartheid injustices.
By: BBC
