TRUMP WANTS TO PULL SA FUNDING
United States President Donald Trump told journalists that he plans to cut all future funding to South Africa because of the country’s government is “treating certain classes of people very badly”.
He added that South Africa’s “leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things”.
"So that's under investigation right now. We'll make a determination, and until such time as we find out what South Africa is doing — they're taking away land and confiscating land, and actually they're doing things that are perhaps far worse than that."
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill that, in certain circumstances, will allow land seizures without compensation.
Ramaphosa reacted to Trump’s comments on X: “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 South African president also said that the only funding received from the US is through Pepfar, the health programme. The funding represented only “17% of South Africa’s HIV/Aids programme”.
South African-born Elon Musk, a Trump adviser, also commented on the issue, saying the law discriminates against white people in the country.
Musk asked Ramaphosa in a post on X: “Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?”
Image credit: Council on Foreign Relations
