South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has spoken to Elon Musk to clarify the country’s land reform policy and correct misinformation about it. During the conversation, Ramaphosa emphasized South Africa’s constitutional values of rule of law, justice, fairness, and equality. The discussion follows US President Donald Trump’s claims that South Africa was confiscating land and mistreating “certain classes of people,” with a threat to suspend future US aid pending a full investigation of the policy. The controversy had intensified after Musk, a close Trump associate who was born in South Africa, accused South Africa of having “openly racist ownership laws” that victimized white people. Responding to Trump’s claims, Ramaphosa clarified that Pretoria’s new expropriation law, aimed at ensuring equitable public access to land, does not allow arbitrary seizure and requires agreement with landowners. He also noted that US support is limited mainly to the AIDS relief program.
Source: Aljazeera