South Africa’s land law and the Trump-Ramaphosa dispute

Wednesday 21 May 2025 - 17:07

By: Zahouani Ilham

South Africa’s land law and the Trump-Ramaphosa dispute

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in an effort to mend strained diplomatic relations between their nations.

A key point of disagreement is South Africa’s newly enacted land expropriation law. Trump has sharply criticized the legislation, calling it a form of “persecution” targeting the country’s affluent white minority. The Trump administration recently welcomed the first group of white South African "refugees" under a relocation initiative, despite firm denials from South African authorities that any such persecution or so-called “white genocide” is occurring.

Understanding the Expropriation Law

The Expropriation Bill, signed into law by Ramaphosa in January, followed intense parliamentary debates and opposition, particularly from the Democratic Alliance (DA), a party that is part of the ruling coalition and is often associated with white and Afrikaner interests.

The legislation grants the government the right to take land from any private owner, regardless of race, for public benefit. This includes uses such as infrastructure development, land reform, environmental protection, and expanding public services. While the law generally requires fair compensation, it also allows for expropriation without compensation in specific cases.

This new law replaces the outdated 1975 Expropriation Act, which originated under apartheid and was widely criticized for its legal ambiguities and lack of clear compensation measures.

Some Afrikaner groups have voiced concerns that the law might lead to forced and potentially violent seizures of land, driving down property values. These concerns are echoed by the DA, which continues to question the legislation’s implications.

White Afrikaners primarily descendants of Dutch settlers maintained control of South Africa through the apartheid era, which ended in 1990. Although they comprise only 7 percent of the population, white South Africans still own around 70 percent of the country’s land. Meanwhile, over half of the Black population lives in poverty, and access to land remains out of reach for many.

The South African government argues that the new law aims to correct historical injustices by redistributing land to disadvantaged groups, including Black South Africans, women, and people with disabilities. In a February statement, the president’s office emphasized that the law should not be viewed as a tool for land confiscation, but rather as a constitutionally grounded mechanism to promote fair access to land and resources.