Donald Trump to cut off funding to South Africa over the policy of the country’s seizures

US President Donald Trump has said he will cut all future funding to South Africa over claims that confiscated land and “treated certain classes of people very badly”.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the law on a bill that allows seizures of land without compensation in certain circumstances.

Ground ownership has long been a contentious question in South Africa with most agricultural land, still owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the racist system of apartheid.

There have been continued calls for the government to tackle land reform and deal with the injustices of the past in racial separation.

On Sunday, Trump wrote on Social Media Platform Truth Social: “I will cut off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation is completed!”

Later he said in a briefing with journalists that South Africa’s “leadership is doing some horrible things, horrible things”.

“So it’s under investigation right now. We make a determination and until we find out what South Africa is doing – they remove land and confiscate land, and actually do the things that may be far worse than that.”

South Africa’s International Connection Minister Ronald Lamola said in a reply to X that he hoped Trump’s advisers would use “this investigative period to elaborate on their understanding of South Africa’s policy as a constitutional democracy”.

“Such insight will ensure a respectful and informed approach to our democratic obligations,” he added.

The US awarded about $ 440 million. (£ 358 million) in assistance to South Africa in 2023, according to US government data.

The South African government says the new law does not allow arbitrary seizures of land as it must first try to reach an agreement with the owner.

The president’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said last month that the state “may not expropriate property arbitrarily or to a purpose other than … in general interest”.

It says the current system of “willing seller, willing buyer” has allowed white farmers to postpone the process of land reform.

However, some critics have expressed fear that the law may have catastrophic consequences such as in Zimbabwe, where seizures of land that destroyed the economy and afraid of investors.