Trump Halts Aid To Where?
President Trump recently signed an executive order halting all U.S. aid to South Africa, calling for the establishment of a resettlement program for Afrikaners, who he claims are suffering from unjust racial discrimination. His executive order targets South Africa’s controversial land reform law, which seeks to address the legacy of apartheid by redistributing land. Trump described this law as a direct attack on the rights of ethnic minority Afrikaners, accusing the government of forcibly seizing agricultural property without compensation.
In the order, Trump denounced South Africa’s stance on Israel, criticizing the nation’s aggressive anti-Israel rhetoric and its accusations of genocide against the Jewish State in Gaza. He emphasized that, as long as South Africa continues these “unjust and immoral practices,” the U.S. would withhold foreign aid. The order also calls for the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees who are fleeing race-based discrimination and government-backed land expropriation.
The tension between Trump and South Africa has escalated in recent weeks. Trump has been vocal in condemning South Africa’s Expropriation Act, signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa, which allows the government to seize land without compensation in cases where it is deemed to be “just and equitable” for public use. Trump has called the law a massive violation of human rights, specifically accusing the government of confiscating land and treating certain groups of people unfairly.
Ramaphosa defended the law, claiming it was not intended to confiscate land but was a constitutionally mandated process designed to ensure equitable access to land. He also expressed a willingness to engage with the Trump administration on the matter.
Tech mogul Elon Musk, a South African native, also criticized Ramaphosa’s decision to pass the Expropriation Act, pointing to the openly discriminatory nature of the law on social media.
In response to the ongoing conflict, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he would boycott the upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg, citing concerns over South Africa’s land reform policies and its use of the summit to promote ideologies like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and climate change. Rubio’s stance reflects a broader Republican concern about the government’s handling of land issues and its troubling alignment with radical political movements.
