South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, has responded to President Donald Trump’s threats to cut off funding to South Africa by stating that the country will simply cut off mineral supplies to the United States, according to Democracy Now.
Trump claimed that South Africa is confiscating land, referring to land reform legislation in South Africa, where the country’s white minority continues to own the vast majority of farmland 30 years after apartheid ended.
After claiming “terrible things are happening in South Africa” and threatening to cut funding, Mantashe caught on and devised his own plan. “Since you passed the Exploration Act, Trump will withhold funding from South Africa. And I said, ‘Let’s mobilize Africa. “Let’s withhold minerals from the United States,” he said.
“That’s it. If they don’t give us money, we won’t give them minerals.
To help Trump understand what he is referring to, South African officials said the president and his administration should gain a better understanding of the new law, which aims to assist in addressing the massive impact of white minority rule during apartheid, which ended 30 years ago in 1994.
According to the Associated Press, government officials believe Trump’s thoughts were in reaction to the new Expropriation Act, which was passed in January 2024.
It provides the government with a new avenue for acquiring land from private parties if it serves the public interest. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement that “the South African government has not confiscated any land.”
During apartheid, however, the opposite was true. Land was taken from the country’s Black majority, and residents were forced to live in areas designated for Blacks only.
According to Ramaphosa’s office, the act is not a “confiscation instrument” but rather a legal process to ensure public access to land. “South Africa, like the United States of America and other countries, has always had expropriation laws that balance the need for public usage of land and the protection of rights of property owners,” according to a statement.
Trump, an outspoken critic of South Africa’s government, has threatened to cut funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which provides nearly $400 million annually to the country’s HIV/AIDS program. Advocates argue that funding cuts will only harm the nation’s citizens.
While some advocates are critical of the country’s most recent legislation, if Trump follows through on his threat, they request that “punitive measures” be directed at senior government officials rather than South African citizens.
