The Flip Side: Why is Trump going after South Africa over land reforms?

DW (English)

US President Donald Trump has frozen aid freeze over South Africa's land reforms. Why is he going after South Africa, and what role does South African-born Elon Musk play?

Transcript

00:00The first two weeks of Trump's second presidency may feel like two years, especially from the

00:06African perspective.

00:07First, he cut all aid to the continent, saying he needed to reassess whether continuing to

00:14support Africa was in the US' best interest.

00:18And then, from seemingly out of nowhere,

00:30But are terrible things really happening in South Africa, or is someone in the White

00:43House leading Donald Trump up the garden path?

00:46Welcome to the Flipside.

00:49So basically, Trump wants to cut all funding to South Africa and cancel trade deals because

00:55he believes that the new expropriation act will lead to the seizure of farms in the country

01:01without compensation.

01:03The land will only be taken without compensation, firstly, after a due process through the courts

01:08and if the land is abandoned and not being used.

01:11There's an elaborate process, in fact, for reaching fair value and appropriate payment.

01:17So all governments around the world have the right to expropriate land.

01:21South Africa is no different.

01:23South African President Cyril Ramaphosa even told Trump that, quote,

01:28the recently adopted expropriation act is not a confiscation instrument.

01:33South Africa's president issued what I thought was a fairly nuanced and thoughtful response.

01:42Now if this is a standard governance practice everywhere, why is the US president so upset

01:48about it?

01:49Why does he even care?

01:50Why are you so obsessed with me?

01:52And who's drawing Trump's attention to this non-issue in South Africa?

01:58Of course, there are some people in South Africa who are unhappy with the legislation,

02:02some who have actually lobbied the US government over it, and that might be where this unhappiness

02:08is coming from, from the US government and from President Donald Trump.

02:12At the same time, there's also the issue of Trump's new top advisor, Elon Musk, who for

02:17a long time has been smearing the country where he was born and raised.

02:21Having cut nearly all ties with his native South Africa, Musk has even suggested that

02:26the white minority is being massacred and that the genocide of white people is looming.

02:34Anybody who does think that that's an extremist viewpoint, a right-wing extremist viewpoint

02:37that is not reflective of what the ANC thinks, of what the government thinks, and of generally

02:41speaking what the country thinks.

02:43Meanwhile, land restitution has been very slow in South Africa, where white citizens

02:48still own most of the land.

02:51So that land remains a meaningful and problematic issue in our country.

02:54So nobody thinks that willy-nilly Zimbabwe-style land should be stolen from white people or

02:58taken from white people.

03:00And when it comes to the myth of genocide specifically, even Julius Malema, an outspoken

03:07far-left opposition populist politician known for his combative rhetoric, says there simply

03:13is no genocide.

03:14They must be happy we're not beating them up.

03:18They must be happy we're not calling for genocide.

03:22So why would the richest man on the planet and one of the most powerful leaders in the

03:28world both fall for such disinformation and lies?

03:31Mr. Musk is, after all, supporting, in word, deed, and presumably with cash, people like

03:38the AFD party in Germany, the Reform Party in Britain, the Rightist Party in France,

03:49and other such political parties.

03:51A half-trillionaire son of the country like Musk could sign up to help social programs

03:57in South Africa instead of levelling false and frankly outrageous accusations.

04:03And that's the Flipside.

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