The US president has accused Pretoria of “fueling” violence against “racially disfavored landowners”
US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order directing government agencies to prioritize refugee assistance to white South Africans, including through resettlement programs. The move was taken after the African nation had passed a land expropriation law to address racial disparities in land ownership.
In his order published on Friday, Trump accused Pretoria of “shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights” and claimed that the newly adopted legislation supposedly allows the government to confiscate ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.
Afrikaners are descendants of European colonists, mostly from the Netherlands, who had arrived on the territory of modern South Africa back in 17th century. Following the decades of an apartheid regime, which Africa’s most advanced economy dismantled only in 1990s, white farmers still own the majority of land in the country. Pretoria has set a target of transferring 30% of farmland to black farmers by 2030 to address this inequality.
According to Trump’s order, the South African government’s policies were supposedly aimed at depriving the white minority of equal employment, education, and business opportunities while fueling violence against “racially disfavored landowners.”
The presidential decree orders a halt to any aid or assistance to South Africa as long as its “unjust and immoral practices” persist and demands the relevant departments and officials, including the secretary of state and the secretary of homeland security “prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa.”
The document also criticizes Pretoria over supposedly “undermining United States foreign policy” thus posing a national security threat to Washington, its interests, and its allies. The list of “aggressive positions” taken by South Africa includes accusing Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice and developing ties with Iran, including “commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.”
The measures introduced by the executive order are to stay in place as long as South Africa continues “practices that harm” the US, the document said. Washington and Pretoria have already recently clashed over the land ownership law.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has earlier announced his decision to skip a G20 meeting in South Africa later this month, accusing Pretoria of “doing very bad things.” A South African-born billionaire, Elon Musk, who has become Trump’s close advisor, has also branded the legislation “racist.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hit back by saying that his nation would “not be bullied.” He also stated that the world had been witnessing the rise of “nationalism and protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests” but did not mention the US by its name.
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