South Africa’s Rejects Trump’s Land ‘Confiscation’ Accusation

President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday rejected the assertions by Donald Trump that South Africa was “confiscating” land, adding that he was ready to explain his government’s land reform policy to his US counterpart.

Trump’s comments appeared to be referring to a land expropriation act signed by Ramaphosa last month, which stipulates the government may, in certain circumstances, offer “nil compensation” for property it decides to seize in the public interest.

The government says the bill does not allow authorities to expropriate property arbitrarily and must first seek to reach agreement with the owner.

Ramaphosa’s statement equally highlighted that with the exception of aid from the PEPFAR anti-HIV/Aids initiative, which makes up 17 percent of South Africa’s HIV/Aids programme, there is no other significant funding that is provided by the United States in South Africa