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South Africa should prevent the US from accessing its minerals if Washington withdraws funding to the nation over its land expropriation policies, its mining minister said.
US President Donald Trump, in a social media post, accused South Africa of “confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.” Trump, whose key ally billionaire Elon Musk was raised in South Africa, added: “I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” South Africa passed a law last month allowing land to be seized without compensation if deemed to be in the public interest, an attempt to resolve apartheid-era restitution issues.
“If [the US] don’t give us money, let’s not give them minerals,” Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said at Mining Indaba. South Africa’s deepening ties with China and Russia under President Cyril Ramaphosa have raised concerns in some quarters about a potential backlash under Trump 2.0.
