CNN
–
The so-called land problem has been a decades-long dilemma for South Africa.
Dismantled in the 1990s, apartheid left a deep seed legacy of land inequality after centuries of white South Africans were forced out of the land for the benefit of white people. The 1913 law restricted black ownership to just 7% of the land, and was later revised to 13%.
Today, more than 100 years later, blacks account for 81% of South Africa’s population of 63 million, but according to a government land audit conducted in 2017, they only own 4% of private land.
The longstanding expropriation law signed last month by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa aims to correct some of the apartheid mistakes by allowing the government to take the land and redistribute it.
In some circumstances, expropriation is permitted without compensation, but only in the case of “fair, fair and public interest.” However, no attacks on private property have occurred.
Emphasizing that “public interest” and the redistribution of the land is not arbitrary, proponents say legislation is necessary. In many parts of the countryside, as CNN previously reported, black and non-white families are pushed into crowded towns, whilst vast land is owned by white farmers.
But the controversial law has brought some of South Africa’s longstanding racial tensions and inequality to the forefront. And now it has been seized by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who claim to discriminate against white farmers.
Born in South Africa and currently tasked with reducing US public spending, Musk has “open and racist ownership laws” for the Ramaphosa coalition government led by the African National Congress (ANC) party. He criticizes him.
Musk’s attitude has been criticized by some white South Africans.
Bloemfontein resident David Van Wyk accused the billionaire of being “comfortable to the extreme right wing of the country,” calling it a “advocate for white privilege.”
Van Wyke, who owns a mango and corn farm whose family exports overseas, told CNN that Trump is “completely ignorant” about South Africa’s inequality.
“It’s nonsense that Trump creates the impression that white South Africans are victims. We (white South Africans) earn 10-20 times higher than the majority of South Africans (black) people. “He said, adding that “most of the black people in South Africa still own nothing in their ancestor countries.”
Van Wyke said expropriation laws are driven by the need to address the country’s land inequality.
However, some argue that the law attempts to do so in a “very clumsy” way, according to Henk Smith, an attorney for the South African Land Access Movement (Ramosa), a community-based organization. .
Smith told CNN that, in his view, on all expropriated land except that it does not productively use land from reclaimed or state-owned companies from mining companies that are abusing their licenses. He said there must be “fair and fair compensation.”
In an executive order issued Friday, Trump cancelled all South African aid, with the aim being to counter the government’s “actions to promote disproportionate violence against racially disadvantaged landowners,” namely white Africans He said it was something to do.
He also used the order to condemn the state’s stance against Israel and the war in Gaza.
Trump’s order specified that the United States “should not provide assistance or assistance to South Africa” through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or other enforcement departments or agencies.
That means the $440 million South Africa received with US support (mostly going to the health sector) was immediately stopped.
Trump suspended almost all foreign aid in the United States on his first day in office and took steps to dismantle USAID. That means many South African charities, health programs and HIV clinics have already become hits.
“We are concerned about the potential impact of the US government’s decision to suspend funding for HIV and TB (tuberculosis) programs in African countries for 90 days. Ramaphosa on Thursday told lawmakers for further assistance. “When further cuts in, we are receiving this funding, which accounts for around 17% of the country’s HIV spending,” he said.
“We will not be stopped. We, as South Africans, are resilient people and we will not be bullied,” Ramaphosa said.
A few days later, he scrambled to send a delegation to Washington to negotiate with the Trump administration before the war of words progressed further.
What worries many South Africans are things that are not explicitly stated in the executive order.
The Trump administration is fearing that it can remove national eligibility from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade law that enhances market access to the US to qualify for sub-Saharan African countries. It’s getting higher.
The removal from trade laws updated this year will be a serious blow to South Africa’s agricultural industry, particularly citrus farmers and the automotive industry.
“False information” about land attacks
A spokesman for the South African Department of International Affairs said misrepresentation of land law “burns unfair fear” about targets of white citizens.
Agrisa, a trade organisation for South African farmers, has denounced land attack claims as “disinformation.”
“The unexpected signature of the January 23, 2025 Expropriation Act has caused political turmoil and unnecessary tensions within the agricultural food system, exacerbated by disinformation about the intent of the law, and South Africans. It will have a negative impact on the agricultural investment environment,” said Agrisa’s chief executive, Johann Kotze.
“To be clear, no seizures or confiscation of private property has been carried out, and no land has been expropriated without compensation. Isolated cases of land grabs and trespassing are being handled.” Kotze added.
Meanwhile, the Solidarity Movement, a network of African community institutions representing around 600,000 members, has criticised “many racial laws that create second-class citizens,” including expropriation laws, and is critical of the ANC’s foreign policy. He says that. But I don’t think that grabs the land is happening.
“We want to record the following: the government did not condemn large-scale racially-based land grabs or distribute misinformation in this regard,” he said in the statement. Masu. “We did not seek sanctions against South Africa, nor did we ask that funds for vulnerable people be cut off by the US government.”
Nevertheless, Kallie Kriel, leader of the right-wing lobbying group Afriforum, part of the solidarity movement, is right to argue that Trump is being treated “very badly” in certain sectors of South African society. He said. “People may deny it, but I think it’s true,” Kriel told Reuters.
For years, Afriforum has argued that, contrary to the evidence, there is ethnic cleansing and “mass killing” of white farmers. An interview with Fox News attracted tweets from Trump in 2018.
However, the Security Institute (ISS), an African research group, previously told CNN that South Africa has no farm murder issues and a wider murder issue. The murder rate has been steadily increasing since 2011, and violent crime has affected all parts of society.
