Last month,
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill that allows land seizures
without compensation in certain circumstances.
Land ownership
has long been a contentious issue in South Africa with most farmland still
owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the racist system of
apartheid.
There have been
continuous calls for the government to address land reform and deal with the
past injustices of racial segregation.
"South
Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law,
justice and equality. The South African government has not confiscated any
land," Ramaphosa responded in a statement on X on Monday morning,
external.
Elon Musk, who
was born in South Africa and is now a Trump adviser has also joined in the
debate.
"Why do
you have openly racist ownership laws?" Mr Musk said to Ramaphosa in a
post on X, external.
On Sunday,
Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "I will be cutting
off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this
situation has been completed!"
He later said,
in a briefing with journalists, that South Africa's "leadership is doing
some terrible things, horrible things".
"So that's
under investigation right now. We'll make a determination, and until such time
as we find out what South Africa is doing — they're taking away land and
confiscating land, and actually they're doing things that are perhaps far worse
than that."
South Africa's
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said in a response on X that he
hoped Trump's advisers would use "this investigative period to deepen
their understanding of South Africa's policies as a constitutional
democracy".
"Such
insights will ensure a respectful and informed approach to our democratic
commitments," he added. BBC
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