By Enyichukwu Enemanna
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order halting monetary assistance to South Africa, citing a land policy signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Trump, who had earlier in the week issued a threat, said he signed the order in response to land administration policies, which he claimed violate people’s rights.
The US leader also said the move was in connection with South Africa’s ICJ case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Days ago, Trump threatened to cut funding to South Africa over land administration policies, sparking a diplomatic row between the two countries. Without citing evidence, Trump alleged that “South Africa is confiscating land” and that “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly”.
The South African government condemned the statement as “a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation.”
The move “fails to recognise South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid,” a statement from the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said.
Trump’s close adviser, Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, also joined in the criticism—asking on X why President Cyril Ramaphosa had “openly racist ownership laws.”
Ramaphosa has not responded but previously defended South Africa’s land policy after Trump’s threat on Sunday.
He said the government had not confiscated any land and that the policy aimed to ensure equitable public access to land.
The new law, signed last month, allows land seizures without compensation in certain circumstances.
Land ownership has long been a contentious issue in South Africa, with most private farmland still owned by white people, 30 years after the end of apartheid.
The new law allows expropriation without compensation only when it is “just and equitable and in the public interest.”
The executive order also references South Africa’s role in bringing genocide accusations against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The order states: “In addition, South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the ICJ, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”
