Trump, South Africa in growing row over hotly contested land law, country's deals with US foes

Friday's executive order stated in part, "In shocking disregard of its citizens' rights, the Republic of South Africa recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, to enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation."

"It is the policy of the United States that, as long as South Africa continues these unjust and immoral practices that harm our Nation:(a) the United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa; and(b) the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation."

Phiri added that "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 favor among decision-makers in the United States of America."

Although it lost its majority in last year's elections, the African National Congress (ANC) is still the main party in South Africa's present government of national unity. The party's secretary general reacted to the offer that White Afrikaners can go become U.S. citizens by posting a photo on X. In it, a black man is standing by an open door and gesturing with both arms outside the door, suggesting Afrikaners should leave.

The government has claimed Whites of all backgrounds, not just Afrikaners, still own approximately 70% of South Africa's land. The government is on record saying the Expropriation Act will only be used to take land needed for public purposes - such as for a new school - from people of any color when the owner refuses to sell, and even then there would be "fair and equitable compensation."

Emma Powell, the international relations spokesperson for South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, told Fox News Digital that "for decades, the DA has opposed the ANC's race-based policies. These policies have benefited the political elite while the vast majority of South Africans continue to languish in poverty."

She continued that the DA "will be pursuing legal action to safeguard property rights. It is now time for the ANC to re-evaluate both their domestic and foreign policy positions, which actively undermine our national interests."

Powell told Fox News Digital, her party will send "a high-level delegation to Washington D.C. in coming weeks to engage with decision-makers. The DA remains committed to protecting private property rights, fostering economic growth, and strengthening diplomatic ties with the U.S."Afrikaners, descendants of predominantly Dutch settlers who landed in Southern Africa in 1652, became the country's rulers and are widely believed to have developed the apartheid system that separated Whites and Blacks, treating Blacks as second-class citizens.

It continued, "However, the civil rights organization and its sister institutions in the Solidarity Movement remain committed to Afrikaners' future at the southern tip of Africa and insist that urgent solutions must therefore be found for the injustices committed by the South African government against Afrikaners and other cultural communities in the country."

Malema has been taken to court on hate crime charges. In one instance, he sang the genocidal anti-apartheid struggle song "Kill the Boer, the farmer," referring to the White descendants of Dutch settlers or "Boers" in South Africa.