JOHANNESBURG – President Donald Trump’s announcement that he plans to cut off all foreign aid to South Africa because he claimed it is “confiscating” land “and treating certain classes of people very badly” in “a massive human rights violation” has provoked strong reaction from the South African presidency and commentators. 

“The South African government has not confiscated any land”, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded in a statement, adding “We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest. We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters”. 

Last week, Ramaphosa signed a bill into law permitting national, provincial and local authorities to expropriate land – to take it -“for a public purpose or in the public interest,” and, the government stated “subject to just and equitable compensation being paid”. However, sources say no expropriation has happened yet.

Analyst Frans Cronje told Fox News Digital that President Trump may be referring to the ongoing killing of farmers in South Africa when he posted that certain classes of people are being treated very badly.

“President Trump’s recent comments on land seizures in South Africa cannot be divorced from his past comments on violent attacks directed at the country’s farmers. Whilst these comments have often been dismissed as false, the latest South African data suggests that the country’s commercial farmers are six times more likely to be violently attacked in their homes than is the case for the general population.” 

Cronje said there may be agendas in play behind President Trump’s statements.

“Such seizures may also apply to the property of American investors in South Africa. Cronje is an adviser at the U.S. Yorktown Foundation for Freedom. He added “with regards to land specifically, the legislation could enable the mass seizure of land which has been an oft expressed objective of senior political figures in the country. To date, however, there have been no mass seizures, in part because there was no legislative means through which to achieve such seizures.” 

Farmers inspect show sheep at the Philippolis Show in Philippolis, South Africa, on Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by PAUL BOTES/AFP via Getty Images)

Now, with the bill having been signed into law, Cronje says that has changed. 

“The comments around property rights in South Africa must be read against broader and bipartisan US concern at developments in South Africa. In 2024 the US/South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act was introduced (in Congress) amid concerns that the South African government’s relationships with Iran, Russia, and China threatened US national security interests.”

Cronje, who also advises corporations and government departments on economic and political trajectory, continued. “Last week, South Africa’s government, together with that of Cuba, Belize and four other countries supported the formation of the ‘Hague Group’ in an apparent move to shore up the standing of the International Criminal Court, amid the passage through Congress of the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act that prescribes sanctions against any country that is seen to use the court to threaten US national security interests. South Africa has in recent years been prominent in employing both that court and the International Court of Justice in the Hague to press for action against Israel and Israeli leaders.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a family photo during the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024.   (ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

South Africa’s Ramaphosa played down the importance of U.S. aid, stating “with the exception of PEPFAR (The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIVAids program, there is no other significant funding that is provided by the United States in South Africa.” President George W. Bush introduced PEPFAR in 2003.

Analyst Justice Malala, speaking on South African news channel, ENCA, said that, under the Trump administration, “the United States is going to upend South Africa in many ways.”