IN a surprising move, US President Donald Trump has offered to resettle white South Africans in the US through settlement programmes.
The announcement follows the passage of a land expropriation law in South Africa aimed at addressing racial disparities in land ownership.
In an order published on Friday, Trump accused Pretoria of displaying a “shocking disregard for its citizens’ rights.”
He claimed that the new legislation allows the government to confiscate agricultural property owned by ethnic minority Afrikaners without compensation.
Afrikaners are descendants of European colonists, primarily from the Netherlands, who arrived in the region in the 17th century.
South Africa managed to dismantle the apartheid regime only in the 1990s, though white farmers still own a majority of the land in the country.
The authorities have announced plans to transfer 30 per cent of agricultural land back to black farmers to rectify historical inequality.
Trump’s order asserted that the South African government’s policies were allegedly depriving the white minority of equal employment, education, and business opportunities while inciting violence against “racially disfavoured landowners.”
The US has frozen all aid-related programmes to South Africa in protest against the land redistribution move, further straining diplomatic relations between the two nations
“Prioritise humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Programme, for Afrikaners in South Africa,” Trump directed in the order.
The measures outlined in the executive order are to remain in place until South Africa ceases “practices that harm” the US, according to the document.
As tensions persist, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has boycotted the G-20 summit in South Africa.
However, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa criticised the move, declaring that his country “would not be bullied.”
He highlighted the rise of “nationalism and protectionism” globally, though he refrained from directly naming the US.
