Ramaphosa calls for united front against Trump

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for national unity after the country’s new land-expropriation laws and foreign policy came under attack from US leader Donald Trump.

“We need to stand united as a nation, particularly now when we are facing a harsh global wind,” Ramaphosa told lawmakers in Cape Town in a reply to a debate on his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday.

“I’d like to repeat we will also not be bullied by anyone in the country or outside.”

Trump last week froze most aid to South Africa after criticizing its relationship with Hamas and Iran and falsely claiming that the authorities were engaging in land grabs. 

While South Africa’s government will never allow people to be forcibly removed from their property, there remains a need for land reform more than three decades after the end of White-minority rule, according to Ramaphosa.

“Like the transformation of our society, the process of restitution is not complete. It is an ongoing process,” he said. “There is still much that needs to be done to heal the divisions of the past.”

A new law that Ramaphosa signed off in December gives the government the power to take land for a public purpose, such as to build roads or schools, or in the public interest, which includes efforts “to bring about equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources in order to redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws or practices.” 

The owner of expropriated land must get “just and equitable” compensation, although the act contains a provision for nothing to be paid in some instances, such as when the land isn’t being used or has been acquired for speculative purposes.

Ramaphosa’s speech comes a week before South Africa is due to host a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 nations.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he will boycott the meeting to protest against its land policies and South Africa using its rotating presidency “to promote ‘solidarity, equality & sustainability.’ In other words, DEI and climate change.”