By AFP -Agence France Presse
We won't be bullied, says South Africa's president after US criticism
South Africa will not be bullied, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a national address on Thursday, following criticism this week of his government by senior US officials, including President Donald Trump.
“We are witnessing the rise of nationalism, protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests, and the decline of common cause,” Ramaphosa said.
“This is the world that we, as South Africa, a developing economy, must now navigate, but we are not discouraged,” he said. “We are, as South Africans, a resilient people, and we will not be intimidated.”
Trump claimed this week that South Africa was “seizing” land through an expropriation law signed last month, a charge the government denies and has described as “disinformation”.
The US leader, who is advised by South African-born Elon Musk, also accused Pretoria of “treating certain classes of people very badly” and threatened to cut off funding to the country.
The law signed by Ramaphosa last month stipulates that the government can, in some circumstances, offer “nil compensation” for property it decides to confiscate in the public interest.
Land ownership is a contentious issue in South Africa, with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid and the government under pressure to implement reforms.
Following Trump's accusation, Musk used his social media platform X to accuse Ramaphosa's government of having “openly racist property laws”.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would skip this month's G20 talks in South Africa, accusing the host government of having an “anti-American” agenda.
“South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using the G20 to promote 'solidarity, equality and sustainability',” Rubio wrote in his post.
“In other words: DEI and climate change,” he said, referring to diversity, equality, and inclusion programs.
“My job is to advance America's national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”
br/jxb
Comments