Donald Trump’s first day in office was spent issuing executive orders that addressed getting rid of DEI within the government, improving the education system, ordering federal employees who work remotely to return to work, releasing assassination documents for JFK and MLK, and much more.
He’s made waves internationally, too. He convinced Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela to return his citizens living in the U.S. without permission, he got the Panamanian President to reduce Chinese influence on the Canal and he raised tariffs against Canada and Mexico. Whew.
He didn’t stop there. On Sunday, he announced he would no longer be funding South Africa, as he believes that the government is illegally confiscating the land of its citizens. He announced his intentions on Truth Social:
As he was returning to the White House after a trip to Palm Beach in Florida, the president addressed the situation on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews, stating that the leadership of the Rainbow Nation was doing “terrible” things:
Terrible things are happening in South Africa. The leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things, so that’s under investigation right now. We’ll decide, and until we find out what’s South Africa’s doing… They’re taking away land, they’re confiscating land, and actually, they’re doing things that are perhaps far worse than that.
Watch:
The President is reacting to the new South African law which allows the government to seize people’s properties:
Trump’s remarks come less than two weeks after South African president Cyril Ramaphosa enacted a new law that makes it easier for the government to expropriate lands, provided equitable compensation is paid.
The African National Congress (ANC), the largest political party in South Africa, is pushing to make it easier to seize land in the state to correct racially imbalanced land ownership patterns that date back to colonial rule and White minority rule.
The South African rand slid nearly 2% against the dollar in early Asia trading on Trump’s comments.
In January, the South African President said that he “was not worried” about his relationship with the American President.
Ramaphosa stated that he had spoken to Trump following the U.S. election and was looking forward to working with Trump’s administration.
“I am not concerned about our relationship.” “I spoke to him shortly after his election, congratulated and said that we were both looking forward to continuing dealings and engagements,” He told reporters at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.
He should be worried now.
