Ramaphosa’s message to Donald Trump

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was looking forward to engaging with the Trump administration after United States President Donald Trump’s recent comments.

Trump said he would cut off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation into taking land from certain people has been completed.

“South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.

“It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention,” he added.

Trump called it a “massive human rights violation, at a minimum”, saying it is happening for all to see. “The United States won’t stand for it. We will act,” he said.

“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed.”

It is understood that these comments relate to Ramaphosa signing the Expropriation Bill into law, setting out how state organs can expropriate land in the public interest.

Ramaphosa responded, saying South Africa is a constitutional democracy deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice, and equality.

“The South African government has not confiscated any land,” The Presidency’s X account said. “The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument.”

“It is a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution.”

The Presidency added that South Africa, like the United States of America and other countries, has always had expropriation laws.

“It balances the need for public usage of land and the protection of rights of property owners,” it said.

“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.”

Ramaphosa said the United States remains a key strategic political and trade partner for South Africa.

“With the exception of PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIV/Aids programme, there is no other funding that is received from the United States,” he said.

Elon Musk, who is highly influential in the Trump Administration, asked Ramaphosa, “Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?”.

The Presidency did not immediately respond to his question.