US President Donald Trump and his South African-born ally Elon Musk are two of the biggest critics of South Africa’s new expropriation act, which they claim discriminates against White landowners. The duo’s stance ignores centuries of policies that have disenfranchised non-White South Africans and propagated the land inequality. In 1913, the then South African government passed an act that limited land ownership by Black people to a mere 7%, later revising it to 13%. Now, more than 100 years later, non-White South Africans only own 4% of the nation’s private lands despite making up 81% of its population. The new expropriation act seeks to address these historical injustices and redistribute unused land. However, contrary to what Trump and Musk claimed, it permits the government to take over property without compensation only when fair negotiations fail.
Source: CNN