
Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he would suspend funding to South Africa because certain groups were being mistreated under the country’s land expropriation policies.
“South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The United States 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!”
According to U.S. government data, Washington allocated nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023.
Trump’s remarks come after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a bill last month aimed at facilitating land expropriation in the public interest. The legislation is intended to address racial imbalances in land ownership that persist three decades after the end of apartheid in 1994.
In response, South Africa’s foreign ministry urged a measured approach, stating: “We trust President Trump’s advisers will use the investigative period to gain a thorough understanding of South Africa’s policies within the framework of a constitutional democracy.” The ministry also noted that similar land reform laws exist in many other countries.
South Africa currently holds the rotating G20 presidency, which the U.S. is set to assume next.
Ramaphosa has previously downplayed concerns about relations with Trump, stating last month that he had spoken to the former president following his election victory and looked forward to working with his administration.
During his first term, Trump directed an investigation into unproven claims of large-scale killings of white farmers and violent land seizures in South Africa—claims that Pretoria dismissed as misleading. It remains unclear whether the Trump administration followed through with the probe.
Tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, has also weighed in on the issue. In 2023, Musk accused the South African government of ignoring what he described as calls for violence against white farmers. His remarks were in response to a video of a far-left political party singing the anti-apartheid struggle song “Kill the Boer (farmer).”
Musk met Ramaphosa in the U.S. last September to discuss investment opportunities in South Africa.