How Trump’s pledge to punish South Africa reflects Musk’s criticism of the country he grew up in

By GERALD IMRAY, Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said helium volition cut each backing to South Africa implicit what helium called a quality rights violation, a determination that reflects Elon Musk’s repeated and mendacious claims implicit the years that authorities successful his state of commencement are anti-white and adjacent encouraging the sidesplitting of achromatic people.

Trump said connected Sunday that “terrible things are happening in South Africa. The enactment is doing immoderate unspeakable things, horrible things” without providing specifics. He said “they’re taking distant land, they’re confiscating land, and really they’re doing things that are possibly acold worse than that.”

FILE – Republican statesmanlike nominee erstwhile President Donald Trump, left, claps arsenic Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk prepares to depart aft speaking astatine a run lawsuit astatine the Butler Farm Show, connected Oct. 5, 2024, successful Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

While it wasn’t wide precisely what Trump was referring to, helium appeared to beryllium referencing a caller instrumentality successful South Africa that gives the authorities powers successful immoderate instances to expropriate onshore from people.

Musk, a adjacent Trump ally, has highlighted that instrumentality successful caller societal media posts and formed it arsenic a menace to South Africa’s achromatic minority.

Many South Africans viewed Trump’s abrupt pledge to punish America’s biggest commercialized spouse successful Africa arsenic astonishing and astatine slightest partially influenced by Musk, who was calved successful the South African superior of Pretoria but near for Canada aft helium completed precocious school.

What is the instrumentality Trump appears to beryllium referring to?

The Expropriation Act was signed into instrumentality by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa past period and allows the authorities to instrumentality onshore successful circumstantial instances wherever it is not being used, oregon wherever it would beryllium successful the nationalist involvement if it is redistributed.

President Donald Trump speaks earlier signing an enforcement bid successful the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, successful Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

It aims to code immoderate of the wrongs of South Africa’s racist apartheid era, erstwhile Black radical had onshore taken distant from them and were forced to unrecorded successful areas designated for non-whites.

Ramaphosa responded to Trump’s comments Monday by saying the U.S. president was incorrect and nary onshore had been confiscated, and said helium looked guardant to “engaging” with the Trump medication implicit the issue. The South African authorities said that the U.S. didn’t recognize the law.

What has Musk antecedently said astir South Africa?

Musk accused Ramaphosa’s authorities successful 2023 of allowing a “genocide” to hap implicit the killings of immoderate achromatic farmers, which person happened for years.

Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai get earlier the 60th Presidential Inauguration successful the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol successful Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

While the killings person been condemned, experts person said determination is nary grounds of immoderate genocide and they are portion of South Africa’s highly precocious convulsive transgression rates and mostly related to workplace robberies. Crime affects each South Africans, and the state has an mean of 70 homicides a day, with the immense bulk of the victims Black.

What is the world erstwhile it comes to contention successful South Africa?

More than 30 years aft the extremity of the apartheid strategy of achromatic number rule, achromatic radical successful South Africa mostly inactive person a overmuch higher modular of surviving than Black people.

That’s reflected successful poorness statistics, with a 2021 survey by the South African Human Rights Commission uncovering that 64% of Black radical were surviving successful poorness against 1% of achromatic people. When it comes to land, achromatic radical marque up astir 7% of the colonisation of 62 cardinal and ain astir 70% of land, according to the astir caller onshore audit, though that stock has decreased since apartheid.

Still, the caller onshore instrumentality has drawn disapproval adjacent from wrong the country, with civic groups that correspond the interests of whites and immoderate South African governmental parties saying they volition situation it successful tribunal due to the fact that it allows onshore to beryllium taken without compensation successful immoderate cases.

While South Africa has deep socio-economic problems and a damaging bequest from astir a half-century of apartheid, it is regarded arsenic a unchangeable ideology and is not a state brimming with radical tensions arsenic it is sometimes portrayed to be.

What mightiness Trump do?

Trump said connected his Truth Social level that South Africa was “treating definite classes of radical VERY BADLY,” again without elaborating, and helium would halt each aboriginal backing portion the U.S. investigated.

That threatens astir $400 cardinal a twelvemonth successful assistance the U.S. gives to South Africa, astir of it for the country’s HIV/AIDS programme done the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known arsenic PEPFAR. South Africa’s U.S. backing done PEPFAR was already threatened by Trump’s planetary assistance freeze.

FILE – Elon Musk, left, and President-elect Donald Trump clasp arsenic they look astatine Musk’s lad X Æ A-Xii, astatine a rally up of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, successful Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

South Africa was besides acrophobic that Trump mightiness region it from the AGOA commercialized agreement, which gives South Africa and different African nations tariff-free entree to the U.S. market. Trump has already imposed tariffs connected goods from China, Canada and Mexico — though connected Monday helium said helium is pausing his tariffs planned for Mexico by 1 month.