Donald Trump to cut off funding for South Africa, cites concern over land policies

03 February 2025 - 06:27 By Reuters
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US President Donald Trump says 'South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people very badly'. File photo.
US President Donald Trump says 'South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people very badly'. File photo.
Image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

US President Donald Trump, without citing evidence, said "certain classes of people" in South Africa were being treated "very badly" and he would cut off funding for the country until the matter is investigated.

"South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people very badly," Trump said in a Truth Social post.

"The US won't stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed," he said.

It is unclear what led to Trump's post.

The South African embassy in Washington DC did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

The US obligated nearly $440m (R8.3bn) in assistance to SA in 2023, the most recent US government data showed.

SA holds the G20 presidency, after which the US takes over.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was not worried about the country's relationship with Trump. He said he had spoken to Trump after the latter's election victory and looked forward to working with his administration.

During his first administration, Trump said the US would investigate unproven large-scale killings of white farmers in SA and violent takeovers of land. Pretoria at the time said Trump was misinformed. It is unclear whether the Trump administration carried out an investigation.

Trump's close ally Elon Musk was born in SA. In 2023, Musk replied on X to a video of a far-left South African political party singing an old anti-apartheid song, Kill the Boer, by stating: "They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa. @CyrilRamaphosa, why do you say nothing?" 

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