Far-right U.S. President Donald Trump began Black History Month by targeting the largest economy on the African continent, the country of South Africa.
In a post on his Truth Social account Sunday, Trump threatened to cut off all U.S. aid to South Africa while accusing the country of violating human rights.
“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see,” the president posted.
The post refers to an expropriation law the country’s legislators passed at the end of January. It outlines a process for how the government can seize land without compensation but only in circumstances that are “just and equitable and in the public interest.”
Western media outlets have referred to the law as controversial, and many people among the country’s white minority fear it will be used to take land from white farmers. Yet, for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, it’s about bringing back equity and reparative justice to the country.
Thirty years after the end of violent apartheid, the country’s white minority still owns 72% of the land, according to the 2017 Land Audit Report.
“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,” President Ramaphosa posted to X in response to Trump.
“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 wrote.
“Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?” responded Elon Musk, a South African billionaire whose family gained wealth through African emerald mining. He’s previously falsely accused the country of committing genocide against white people in South Africa.
Apartheid by the numbers
Following centuries of colonization by European powers, the white descendants, Afrikaners, founded a form of racial segregation eerily similar to Jim Crow in the U.S. named Apartheid. From 1948 to the 1994, Black people were denied equal access to public spaces, transportation, restuarants, water fountains and more.
The system was upheld by violent oppression before a variety of groups, some militant and some political, pushed back and toppled the racist institution.
- 3.5 million Black South Africans were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in segregated neighborhoods.
- 14,000 South Africans died in political violence, many due to apartheid death squads.
- The largest bomb in the nation’s history was detonated by a right-wing, white Afrikaner in the heart of the city of Johannesburg on April 24, 1994. The attack killed nine and injured 92.
- Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison before being released and becoming the country’s first democratic president.
According to the Apartheid Museum, the most violent era of South African apartheid was during the transition years between 1990 and 1994, when white Afrikaners tried to hold on to racist institution in the face of worldwide condemnation.
South Africa is not committing genocide against white people
In his post Sunday, Trump said he plans to cut off all aid to South Africa while he launches an investigation into alleged human rights violations. Trump didn’t explicitly refer to race, but it isn’t the first time he’s targeted South Africa. It follows a dispute between the two heads of state during Trump’s first term.
In 2018, Trump directed his then-Secretary of State “to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers.”
Attacks on white farmers have been reported in South Africa, but the country’s leaders say it is part of a national crime issue, not a racially-motivated issue. With one of the highest crime rates in the world, South Africa’s homicide rate was recorded at 45 per 100,000 for the year 2022-2023, compared to 6.5 per 100,000 in the U.S.
Over 27,000 people were killed in South Africa that year, and the vast majority of victims were Black.
“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 over these matters,” President Ramaphosa tweeted early Monday morning.
Notably, despite Trump threatening to cut off all aid to the largest economy in Africa, South Africa’s president claims the only funding it receives from the U.S. goes toward an HIV program, and the U.S. only contributes 17% of that program’s budget.
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