Fact Check: No evidence South Africa has banned all US businesses and stopped mineral exports

Yahoo

20-02-2025

Claim:
In February 2025, the government of South Africa announced that all U.S.-based businesses were banned from operating in the country and that the African nation was halting all mining exports to the United States.
Rating:
In mid-February 2025, posts on social media sites like Facebook (archived here) alleged that the nation of South Africa had announced a ban on all United States-based businesses there and was halting all mining exports to the U.S. The supposed ban was announced days after U.S. President Donald Trump released an executive order banning foreign aid to the nation in response to the country's recently passed Expropriation Act, which Trump's order described as a "shocking disregard of its citizens' rights."
If the claim were true, the South African government would need to issue some kind of public announcement in order to enforce the supposed ban. That had not happened, and there was no other evidence suggesting that such a ban on American businesses had been enacted. We therefore rate the claim as false.
The claim likely originated from comments made by South Africa's Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe on Feb. 3, 2025, at the 2025 Mining Indaba conference. According to a news release from Mining Indaba, Mantashe did propose that the country stop exporting minerals to the United States in response to Trump's threats to withhold funding:
"They want to withhold funding, but they still want our minerals," he said. "Let's withhold minerals. Africa needs to assert its advantage and take charge of the growing demand."
This set of comments came in response to the passage of the Expropriation Act, which critics alleged would allow the South African government to seize private property without compensation in particular circumstances. The following section of the law lays out those circumstances:
(3) It may be just and equitable for nil compensation to be paid where land is expropriated in the public interest, having regard to all relevant circumstances, including but not limited to—(a) where the land is not being used and the owner's main purpose is not to develop the land or use it to generate income, but to benefit from appreciation of its market value;(b) where an organ of state holds land that it is not using for its core functions and is not reasonably likely to require the land for its future activities in that regard, and the organ of state acquired the land for no consideration;(c) notwithstanding registration of ownership in terms of the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937), where an owner has abandoned the land by failing to exercise control over it despite being reasonably capable of doingso;(d) where the market value of the land is equivalent to, or less than, the present value of direct state investment or subsidy in the acquisition and beneficial capital improvement of the land.
According to a 2017 report from the South African government, white people own over 70% of farmland in the country, despite only making up 7% of the population.
U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa under apartheid and is a member of Trump's inner circle, called the Expropriation Act "openly racist" in a reply to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Musk's social media site, X. Trump posted a similar claim to social media in 2018, alleging that the South African government was allowing and abetting "large scale killing of farmers." Snopes checked that claim at the time and found it was false.
Trump's Feb. 7, 2025, executive order did provide rationale for why he was suspending aid to the country, which largely goes to HIV/AIDS prevention.
In shocking disregard of its citizens' rights, the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 (Act), to enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation. This Act follows countless government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.
In addition, South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.
The United States cannot support the government of South Africa's commission of rights violations in its country or its undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests.
The executive order also listed South Africa's lawsuit in the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people, as a reason for withholding aid.
"Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa." The White House, 8 Feb. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/addressing-egregious-actions-of-the-republic-of-south-africa/.
Africa Must Stand Together to Unlock Full Value of Its Minerals for Its People | Mining Indaba. https://miningindaba.com/articles/africa-must-stand-together-mantashe. Accessed 19 Feb. 2025.
Amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution - Parliament of South Africa. https://www.parliament.gov.za/project-event-details/285. Accessed 19 Feb. 2025.
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Expropriation Act of 2024. Government of South Africa, 24 Jan. 2025, https://www.parliament.gov.za/storage/app/media/Acts/2024/Act_13_of_2024_Expropriation_Act_2024.pdf.
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