The spat between US President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken another dizzying turn.
The day after Ramaphosa’s State of The Nation Address on Thursday, in which he appeared to aim at US Trump, saying South Africa will not be ”bullied” in the face of rising nationalism and protectionism, Trump has signed an Executive Order against the country, freezing aid and signalling an intention to assist “Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
It stems from what many have slammed as a disinformation campaign about the Expropriation Act, which the South African Government has been at pains to explain is not about seizing land.
ALSO READ: Trump takes aim at SA: Political parties slam ‘misinformation’ about land expropriation
However, this has not deterred Trump, who signed the order on Friday addressing the “Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa.”
In it, Trump doubles down on his view that the Expropriation Act will enable the South African government to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.”
Hours before, the Chief Executive Manager Agri SA, Johann Kotze wrote an opinion piece entitled ‘South African farmers will keep on farming’, in which he rubbished this view:
“To be clear no seizures or confiscations of private property have taken place. Nor has any land been expropriated without compensation. Isolated cases of land grabs and trespassing have been dealt with. Additionally, rumours linking farm murders to the signing of the Act are baseless and irresponsible. Farmers remain productive and committed to their operations.”
But Trump wouldn’t have seen that piece, nor would it persuade him.
He has taken it a step further, ordering the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take steps to “prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement” for Afrikaner “refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”
Trump’s Executive Order also rips into South Africa’s foreign policy, accusing South Africa of taking “aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies”, citing the ICJ genocide case against Israel, and also alleging that South Africa has been “reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”
The US President says for as long as South Africa continues with these “unjust and immoral practices” the United States will not provide aid or assistance:
“All executive departments and agencies (agencies), including the United States Agency for International Development, shall, to the maximum extent allowed by law, halt foreign aid or assistance delivered or provided to South Africa, and shall promptly exercise all available authorities and discretion to halt such aid or assistance.”
ALSO READ: SA ministers hit back at Trump’s land grab claims
The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola has since responded, saying the order “lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognize South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid.”
“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.
It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the US from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship.
We reiterate that South Africa remains committed to finding diplomatic solutions to any misunderstandings or disputes.”
