8th February, 2025
The South African government on Friday condemned what it described as campaign of “misinformation and propaganda” after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to cut U.S. financial assistance to the country.
In a statement on Friday, the White House cited the new land policy of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as well the genocide case at the International Court of Justice against U.S ally, Israel for the action by President Trump.
“We are concerned by what seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation. It is disappointing to observe that such narratives seem to have found favour among decision-makers in the United States of America,” South Africa’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Trump’s executive order also stipulates that white South African farmers and their families will be allowed to settle in South Africa as refugees.
It mandated U.S. officials to take steps to prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program for Afrikaners in South Africa, who are mostly white descendants of early Dutch and French settlers.
But the foreign ministry noted that the executive order by Trump, “lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognize South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid.”
“It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the U.S. for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the U.S. from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship.”
Trump had alleged that South the Africa is confiscating land and that certain classes of people are treated “very badly.”
South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to Trump, has said white South Africans have been the victims of “racist ownership laws.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who signed into law a bill last month aimed at making it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, has defended the policy and said the government had not confiscated any land. The policy was aimed at evening out racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation, he said.
Ramaphosa also has said South Africa “will not be bullied.”
The U.S also has complained about the case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice, where it accused Israel of genocide over its military offensive in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis. Israel denies the allegations, saying it acted in self-defense following the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants.
The White House said case is an example of South Africa taking positions against Washington and its allies. The order also mentioned South Africa’s ties with Washington’s Middle East rival Iran.
South Africa’s British imperial masters gave most farmland to whites. In 1950, the Afrikaner National Party passed a law taking 85% of territory for themselves and kicking 3.5 million Black people off their ancestral homelands.
With reports from Reuters
