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BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
South Africa's land law explained – and why it so inflames Donald Trump
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is at the centre of a political firestorm after he approved a law that gives the state the power to expropriate some privately owned land without compensation for law, which is yet to be implemented, has drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump, who sees it as discriminating against white farmers. Centre-right political parties and lobby groups in South Africa have also opposed it, saying they will challenge the Expropriation Act – as the law is named – in court on the grounds that it threatens property government says the law provides for compensation to be paid in the vast majority of cases – and the changes are needed to increase black ownership of private farmland is still owned by white people. When Nelson Mandela came to power more than 30 years ago, ending the racist system of apartheid, it was promised that this would be rectified through a willing-buyer, willing-seller land reform programme – but critics say this has proved too slow and too costly. So what exactly can be expropriated without compensation? In rare circumstances it would be land that was needed for the "public interest", legal experts told the to South African law firm Werksmans Attorneys, this suggested it would mainly, or perhaps only, happen in relation to the land reform it could also be used to access natural resources such as minerals and water, the firm added, in an opinion written by its experts in the field, Bulelwa Mabasa and Thomas and Karberg told the BBC that in their view, productive agricultural land could not be expropriated without said any expropriation without compensation – known as EWC – could take place only in a few circumstances:For example, when an owner was not using the land and was holding it for "speculative purposes"Or when an owner "abandoned the land by failing to exercise control over it despite being reasonably capable of doing so". Owners would probably still get compensation for the buildings on the land and for the natural resources, the lawyers and Karberg added that EWC was "not aimed at rural land or farmland specifically, and could include land in urban areas".However, in cases where compensation is paid, the rules are set to change, with owners likely to get less money. Why will less money be paid in compensation? The plan is for owners to receive "just-and-equitable" compensation – a departure from the higher "market value" they have been getting up to now, Mabasa and Karberg government had been paying market-value compensation despite the fact that this was "at odds" with the constitution, adopted after white-minority rule ended in 1994, they lawyers said that all expropriations had "extensive procedural fairness requirements", including the owner's right to go to court if they were not move away from market-value compensation will also apply to land expropriated for a "public purpose" – like building state schools or has not been a major point of controversy, possibly because it is "hardly a novel concept" – a point made by JURISTnews, a legal website run by law students from around the world. "The US Constitution, for instance, provides that the government can seize private property for public use so long as 'just compensation' is provided," it added. Will it make it easier for the government to acquire land? The government hopes so. University of Western Cape land expert Prof Ruth Hall told the BBC that more than 80,000 land claims remain the eastern regions of South Africa, many black people work on farms for free – in exchange they are allowed to live there and keep their livestock on a portion of the owners' land, she government wants to transfer ownership of this land to the workers, and it was "unfair" to expect it to pay the market value, Prof Hall the last three decades, the government has used existing powers to expropriate property–- with less than market-value compensation – in fewer than 20 cases, she new law was aimed at making it easier and cheaper to restore land to black people who were "dispossessed" of it during white-minority rule or were forced to be "long-term tenants" as they could not own land, Prof Hall added."It's a bargaining chip," she said. But she doubts that the government will press ahead with implementing the law in the foreseeable future as the "political cost" has become too high. The academic was referring to the fact that Trump has opposed the law, saying it discriminates against white farmers and their land was being "seized" – a charge the government February, Trump cut aid to South Africa, and in April he announced a 30% tariff on South African goods and agricultural products, although this was later paused for 90 was followed by last month's infamous Oval Office showdown when Trump ambushed Ramaphosa with a video and printouts of stories alleging white people were being persecuted – much of his dossier has been Trump's Oval Office confrontation with Ramaphosa What has been the reaction in South Africa? Like Trump, the second-biggest party in Ramaphosa's coalition government, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is opposed to the legislation. In a statement on 26 May, the party said that its top leadership body had rejected the notion of "nil compensation". However, it has agreed with the concept of just-and-equitable compensation rather than market-value compensation, adding it should be "adjudicated by a court of law".Surprisingly, Jaco Kleynhans of the Solidarity Movement, an influential Afrikaner lobby group, said that while the new law could "destroy" some businesses and he was opposed to it, he did not believe it would lead to the "large-scale expropriation of farmland"."I don't see within the wording of this text that that will happen," he said in a recent panel discussion at an agricultural exhibition held in South Africa's Free State province – where a large number of conservative Afrikaner farmers South African Property Owners Association said it was "irrational" to give "nil compensation" to an owner who held land for speculative purposes. "There are many landowners whose sole purpose of business is to speculate in land. They do not get the land for free and they have significant holding costs," the association said, adding it had no doubt the law would be "abundantly tested" in the courts. Mabasa and Karberg said one view was that the concept of EWC was a "legal absurdity" because "intrinsic in the legal definition of expropriation, is a requirement for compensation to be paid".However, the lawyers pointed out the alternative view was that South Africa's constitution "implicitly recognises that it would in some circumstances be just and equitable for compensation to be nil". What does the government say? South Africa's Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson has defended the legislation, breaking ranks with his party, the fact he is in charge of the new legalisation and, on a discussion panel, he explained that while he had some concerns about the law, it was a "dramatic improvement" on the previous Expropriation Act, with greater safeguards for land-owners. He said the law could also help end extortionist demands on the state, and in some cases "nil compensation" could be gave as an example the problems being faced by the state-owned power utility plans to roll out a transmission network over about 4,500km (28,000 miles) of land to boost electricity supplies to end the power crisis in the of the roll-out, some individuals colluded with Eskom officials to buy land for 1m rand ($56,000; £41,000), and then demanded R20m for it, he said. "Is it just and equitable to give them what they want? I don't think that's in the interest of the broader community or the state," Macpherson another example, Macpherson said that some of South Africa's inner cities were in a "disastrous" condition. After owners left, buildings were "over-run" and "hijacked" for illegal occupation. The cost to the state to rebuild them could exceed their value, and in such cases the courts could rule that an owner qualified for "nil compensation", he said. "Nil is a form of compensation," Macpherson added, while ruling it out for mayor Dada Morero told South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper that he wanted to use the buildings for the "public good", like accommodating around 300,000 people on the housing waiting added the owners of nearly 100 buildings could not be located. "They have abandoned the buildings," he said, adding some of the owners were from the UK and Mabasa and Karberg told the BBC that in such cases compensation would probably still have to be paid for the buildings, though not the the state could not locate the owners, it "must deposit the compensation with the Master of the High Court" in case they returned or could be traced later, they said. What next? The law is in limbo, as Ramaphosa – about four months after giving his assent to it – has still not set a date for its implementation. Nor is he likely to do so anytime soon, as he would not want to further antagonise Trump while South Africa was trying to negotiate a trade deal with the US. And on the domestic front, the DA is spearheading opposition to the legislation. It said it wanted a "judicial review" of it, while at the same time it was pressing ahead with court action to challenge the law's constitutionality. The DA's tough line is in contrast with that of Macpherson, who, a few weeks ago, warned that if the law was struck down in its entirety: "I don't know what's going to come after that."In politics, sometimes you must be careful what you wish for because often you can get it," he comments highlight the deep fissures in South African politics, with some parties, such as Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), believing that the legislation did not go far enough to tackle racial inequality in land land such an emotive issue, there is no easy solution to the dispute – and it is likely to continue to cause tensions within South Africa, as well as with the US president. You may also be interested in: Rebuked by Trump but praised at home: How Ramaphosa might gain from US showdownIs there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims?South Africans' anger over land set to explode Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Zawya
5 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Zimbabwe's farmers push on as land grab compensation flounders
Burger, 36, and Mupambawashe, 59, are neighbours and partners in efforts to revive the country's once-flourishing agriculture sector cut down by a ruinous land reform drive in the 2000s. The reform distributed land from the white minority, which still owned most of the best farmland 20 years after independence in 1980, to the black majority. Around 4,000 white-owned farms were confiscated, some with deadly violence. Mupambawashe was among thousands who received land. Though she initially knew little about farming, her small subsistence plot now thrives. Other farms failed or were abandoned, with some new tenants unschooled in agriculture and others — including politicians who were handed land — uninterested. There were food shortages and Zimbabwe soon required international aid. 'There was a bit of a tough period through the 2000s and, unfortunately, I think it sort of refuelled racial tensions to an extent,' Burger told AFP. 'But being so passionate about farming was the motivator for me to move forward,' he said. Good faith Mupambawashe moved to the area from the southern city of Bulawayo, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) away. 'When we first came here in 2001, it was a forest and there was nothing built,' she said. 'Some of the white farmers were angry but we managed to talk to each other in good faith and move forward.' 'They never let us down and said, 'You grabbed the farm, let's see if you can do it'. But instead they brought their own tractors and equipment to come and help, which we felt was a nice gesture.' It was hard in the beginning, especially after irrigation equipment was stolen, and the early failures were 'embarrassing', Mupambawashe said. But today her plot does so well that she only needs to buy in sugar and cooking oil. Burger leases land from her and lends tractors and expertise. His family's land was among the few hundreds that were not seized in the 2000s. Nonetheless, 'For a long time we became wound up in compensation,' said Burger, vice-president of the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) that represents mostly white farmers. 'But it wasn't our purpose. Our purpose was driving agriculture and current agricultural affairs forward,' he said. Compensation frustration This year, some farm owners whose land was confiscated received the first compensation payments after decades of waiting. The process has been complex and divisive. The government committed to compensation as part of an effort to settle arrears and reform the economy in order to be able to regain access to international credit lines cut two decades ago. It announced in 2020 the creation of a fund that would pay out US$3.5 billion for infrastructure on farms but not the land, which it says was taken by force by colonial settlers. Unable to raise cash, the government in 2023 changed the offer to one percent in cash and the remainder in US dollar denominated treasury bonds. In April, the first payments were made to 378 of 780 farmers approved for this scheme. Deon Theron, who represents the Compensation Steering Committee group of former white farmers, says the introduction of the bonds has annulled the original deal and negotiations need to start over. The bonds are 'unsecured' and there is 'limited recourse in the event of non-performance by government,' he told AFP. 'The general feeling amongst the farmers is firstly frustration that after 20-odd years we still have not received anything,' Theron said. But the Property and Farm Compensation Association said its members would take what is on offer. The bonds are under international guarantee, said leader Harry Orphanides, adding that 'digging in' and seeking more from the government would be futile. Tenure Mupambawashe and Burger are encouraged by another major government announcement — the granting of land ownership rights to beneficiaries of the 2000s land reform. The tenure announced late last year replaces 99-year leases and means the new owners can deal with the property as they wish, including putting it up for sale. 'It makes us feel settled,' Mupambawashe said. 'No one could come and tell us to move off the land or take it away from us.' 'It is just going to catapult us forward as a nation and an economy,' Burger said. 'We used to be the breadbasket of Africa and we lost it somewhat. But I just look at where we are now.' © Copyright The Zimbabwean. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Russia Today
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Trump backs South Africa ‘white genocide' claims with Congo footage
A screengrab from a video that US President Donald Trump presented as evidence of white farmers being killed in South Africa originated from footage of unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Reuters reported on Friday. Trump showed the image during a White House meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, holding up a printout of an article that featured a screengrab from the footage, which Reuters said it originally published on February 3. According to the news agency, the video shows humanitarian workers handling body bags in Goma, one of the main cities in eastern Congo captured by M23 rebels amid intense fighting in late January. The screengrab appeared in a blog post by conservative outlet American Thinker, which discussed conflicts in both South Africa and the DRC, but did not caption the image. 'These are all white farmers that are being buried,' Trump said. 'You have hundreds of people, thousands of people trying to come into our country because they feel they're going to be killed and their land is going to be confiscated. And you do have laws that were passed that give you the right to confiscate land,' he claimed. Andrea Widburg, the managing editor at American Thinker and author of the post, told Reuters that Trump 'misidentified the image.' She said the article raised concerns about 'increasing pressure placed on white South Africans.' Ramaphosa's visit to Washington was aimed at repairing diplomatic ties amid heightened tensions with the US over land policy, foreign affairs, and Trump's accusations of discrimination against the white minority. During the meeting, the US president played a five-minute montage that included clips of South African political figures and images he claimed show graves of white farmers. Ramaphosa rejected the claims, stating that South Africa is a multi-party democracy and that crime affects all communities. 'There's no genocide in South Africa. That is a fact that's borne out of a lot of evidence,' he said, adding that those shown in the video were not part of his government.
Times
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Donald Trump has learnt from his mistakes. Only the most loyal are allowed in
'Turn the lights down,' declared Donald Trump this week from the Oval Office as he met South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa. What followed was an excruciating exchange as Trump's guest was made to watch a series of videos appearing to show evidence of the persecution of white farmers. 'These are burial sites right here,' Trump said (claims that have since been disproved) as Ramaphosa, a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, watched awkwardly with Elon Musk in the background. The performance was not universally badly received. Later that night at The Monocle, an old school steak house on The Hill, Trump supporters were in a celebratory mood. 'That was incredible,' said one figure with ties to the administration. 'The team pulled it off perfectly. It was a slam dunk.' The ambush fits a pattern, after President Zelensky's infamous bout with Trump and JD Vance, the vice-president, one in which Trump is unleashed, backed by a team in which there is little in the way of dissenting voices. In the first term, Trump was shocked to arrive in Washington and find a good portion of the people reporting to him did not support him and even questioned him. In the second term, he was determined to surround himself only with people who had proven their loyalty. The test: are they people who believed that he won the 2020 election in the face of all the evidence to the contrary? It's having results. 'He has more enablers around him and he has fewer adults in the room who might put the brakes on particularly crazy ideas,' says Marc Fisher, co-author of Trump Revealed. Others see it as helpful unity. 'It's not sycophancy,' Lord Black of Crossharbour, the former media mogul who Trump pardoned in 2019, tells me. 'It's because of a careful selection. In his first term as president it was clear that he did not have any experience in Washington. He made some mistakes.' The risks of an inner circle are evident for all to see this week in Washington as the fallout from the latest Joe Biden tell-all, Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, continues. The book's authors write of a 'politburo' made up of five advisers effectively running the country in secret. While some of the claims of a health cover up are staggering, it fits into a pattern of White House kitchen cabinets starting with Andrew Jackson in the 19th century. So, who makes up Trump's? Who the President does, and doesn't, listen to sets the tone for his government. Original Sin claims that Biden's wife Jill and son Hunter both exercised enormous influence. But in Trump's case, his family is much less involved than during his first term. His wife, Melania, spends a lot of time in New York. His daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, seen as moderating influences from 2016-20, are staying out of the picture. The eldest sons Donald Jnr and Eric are on the scene, but play a different kind of role helping on business ventures. 'They're there to serve,' says Michael Wolff, another Trump biographer. When Fisher first interviewed Trump in 2016, he asked him who the friends were that he would trust with family secrets or troubles he had. The reply: 'I've never allowed myself to have anything like that because if people got that close to me I would worry that they were trying to get close to me for my money.' It follows that Trump has few traditional friendships, even the loyalists tend to be closer to acquaintances than friends for life. 'I currently think of the first tier as JD Vance [the vice-president], Scott Bessent [secretary of the Treasury], Susie Wiles [chief of staff], Stephen Miller [deputy chief of staff], and Marco Rubio,' says Mark Halperin, host of Next Up on Megyn Kelly's MK Media. 'But there's plenty of other people with influence.' Wiles, 68, is viewed as pivotal to the daily running of the operation and credited for bringing a sense of stability to the campaign. 'She has a very good understanding of what he wants and how to execute it. And so although it's still, by any normal presidential standard or CEO standard, it's still a chaotic, symbolic mess, it's got someone to corral around it now and that keeps it within a little bit more of a rational manner,' says Halperin. There is a saying that nothing gets through without Susie. However, it's also the case that Wiles does not overreach or try to shape the president's thinking. 'Susie Wiles's gift, unlike the previous chiefs of staff, is to make no pretence that she is the chief of staff,' Wolff tells me. 'There's no policy point of view. There's no effort to run him in any sense. You have someone who is making the trains run on time.' Yet her reach is clear. Elon Musk is becoming increasingly isolated, after he said that he planned to spend 'a lot less' on politics and refocus his energies on Tesla. That isolation is seen as a sign of Wiles's power. She is said to have long been sceptical of the tech billionaire, viewing him as a disruptive force in government. But overshadowing Trump may have been the real trigger. 'He was doing his thing, getting headlines,' said Wolff, which was 'all good, until there was the perception that Elon was in charge'. Two dealmakers that Trump trusts have broken into his inner circle: Steve Witkoff and Howard Lutnick. He has known both for decades through his business interests, though other Trump allies regard them with suspicion. Witkoff is close to Trump and his family, meaning he has been handed briefs that raise the eyebrows of establishment figures who question his experience and behaviour. Last month, he was sent to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine. Further alarm has been raised by reports this week, too, in the Wall Street Journal, that Witkoff's son Zack co-founded a cryptocurrency company in which the Trump family holds a 60 per cent stake. Last month, its digital coins were used for a $2 billion deal between MGX, a firm backed by Abu Dhabi, and Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world. Questions of propriety were raised after it emerged that Steve Witkoff attended a party on a yacht in the UAE hosted by Binance in December. 'Everyone is on the make,' remarked one DC veteran. Lutnick, meanwhile, knows Trump from his New York days, but is now a regular sight at the White House and Mara-a-Lago. He is a sounding board for ideas for Trump and the pair were the first to discuss the Panama Canal plans. One of the 'liberation day' architects, Lutnick has been criticised by colleagues over tariffs. But so far Trump has remained loyal. Vance is viewed as trusted by the president, amplifying the role of vice-president from what was previously often a dead end job. Yet the talk in Washington is that Trump still wants his deputy on his toes, notably naming Rubio as another potential successor to him when asked in a recent interview. Rubio's ascent in Maga-land is a source of disturbance for old school Republicans. They had hoped Rubio would act as an adult in the room, but now worry he has drunk the Kool-Aid. The other theory is he hasn't, but knows speaking out would be problematic. 'If he can win Trump's trust then the president might listen to him on some big foreign policy calls such as a more hawkish line on Iran,' says a well-plugged member of Maga. Rubio may need to tread carefully given Mike Waltz faced the axe as national security adviser after voicing too many opinions on foreign affairs. 'They have similar views, but very different approaches,' says a senior Republican. It's Bessent who is currently viewed as Trump's favourite in the cabinet and he has risen to the surprise of some of old Team Trump. He is viewed as a moderating force having won Trump's trust for handling the stock market fall out. 'Scott's the golden boy,' says an insider. 'He is tall, good looking and rich. He is everything Trump loves.' But for the old timers watching on, this all feels a little familiar. Many advisers have come and gone before. In the first term, the rate of staff turnover exceeded Trump's five predecessors' full first terms. Only two who have survived the first term all the way through to the second: Stephen Miller and Peter Navarro. Allies of the pair take the view that some of the newbies will go in and out of fashion and they will be left there. Both are seen as hardliners. Miller is leading on immigration and is regarded by even the Maga base as hardcore. He has led Trump's border crackdown, dismantling diversity programmes and recently declared that the White House was considering suspending the right of habeas corpus. 'I don't know anyone more right-wing,' says a member of the Maga movement. Navarro, an eccentric economist who went to jail for Trump last year, will keep pushing on tariffs. Other figures who have Trump's ear include Richard Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany who Trump installed as president of the Kennedy Center, an influential performing arts venue. 'Richard is a reminder to Trump of what the base thinks,' an insider says. 'It's no coincidence he keeps getting new jobs.' This faction is keen for robust exchanges. Grenell was linked to the efforts to bring Andrew Tate to the US. In 2020 Grenell claimed that Trump was the 'most pro-gay president in American history'. Susan Rice, a senior Democratic Party politician, called Grenell 'one of the most nasty, dishonest people I've ever encountered'. This week, he clashed with Rubio by announcing an apparent reversal of sanctions on Venezuela without the secretary of state's to Biden's politburo, Trump's approach is closer to Henry VIII. He likes to keep people guessing and his decision is king. 'I think he is absolutely ruthless in pursuing his own interest,' says Black. 'He thrives on chaos, he likes to keep the people around him guessing and, therefore, even among those who are ultimately loyal the turnover rate is stratospheric,' says Fisher. The court of Trump is likely to look different before the year is out.
Fox News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
President Trump Came with Receipts!
We've seen President Trump do some savage stuff but this one takes the cake! I'm Tomi Lahren, more next. The loving and tolerant Left is coming absolutely unglued over the roughly 50 white South African farmers and their families the Trump Administration granted asylum to. They claim those folks are not being targeted for land confiscation, violence, and execution because the South African government says so. Well this week President Trump not only served up some cold hard evidence to the Left and fakestream media, but also right to the face of the South African president. While meeting with President Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, President Trump lowered the lights and rolled the tape. The tape was a lengthy montage of South African leaders explicitly calling for the elimination and targeting of white farmers. The President of South Africa still somewhat balked at the footage, feigning ignorance of the issue. The mainstream media has always been working to discredit the evidence. President Trump came with the receipts, and they can't handle it! I'm Tomi Lahren and you watch my show 'Tomi Lahren is Fearless' at Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
