President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Friday to cut all United States financial assistance to South Africa.
He cited South Africa’s controversial land policy and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as the primary reasons for the decision.
In the order, Trump said “the United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa.”
The latest action followed Trump’s accusation on Sunday that the South African government was engaged in a “massive human rights VIOLATION, at a minimum.”
He vowed a full investigation and promised to cut off aid. The US had allocated nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, making this a significant reduction in aid.
The executive order also includes a plan to resettle Afrikaner South African farmers and their families as refugees in the United States.
American officials are now required to do everything possible to help white “Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
Trump, without providing evidence, has claimed that “South Africa is confiscating land” and that “certain classes of people” are being treated “very badly.”
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.
He stated that the government had not confiscated any land and that the policy was aimed at removing racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation.
The US leader also criticised South Africa’s case at the ICJ where the Pretoria authorities accused Israel of genocide over the Zionist state’s military assault on Gaza that has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
Israel denies the allegations, saying it acted in self-defence following a deadly attack in October 2023 by Palestine’s Hamas militants.
JN/APA