‘South Africa is confiscating land; treating people very badly’: Donald Trump announces halt on funding

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he would cut off all future funding to South Africa, citing allegations that the government was confiscating land and treating certain classes of people “very badly”.
Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post, stating, “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people very badly. 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 US government statistics, the United States allocated nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, covering health programs, economic development, and security cooperation, as per the news agency Reuters.
Trump’s decision means future funding will be suspended while his administration looks into alleged human rights violations.
The controversy stems from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent signing of a land expropriation bill, which allows the government to offer “nil compensation” for property in cases where expropriation is deemed in the public interest.
However, the South African government insists that this does not equate to arbitrary seizures and that it will negotiate with landowners first, as per AFP.
While land reform remains a sensitive issue in post-apartheid South Africa, critics, including billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump ally and South African-born entrepreneur, have warned that the policy could resemble Zimbabwe’s land seizures of the 1980s, which led to economic collapse.
Despite Trump’s move, Ramaphosa has dismissed concerns over relations with Washington. In January, he stated that he had spoken to Trump after his election victory and looked forward to working with his administration.
However, the South African government has not yet formally responded to the funding freeze.
Trump had previously pledged to investigate alleged violent land takeovers and killings of white farmers in South Africa during his first term, though no evidence of large-scale incidents was found, according to Reuters.
The funding cut comes amid Trump’s broader “America First” foreign policy, which has seen him reduce aid to several nations and focus on domestic priorities.