In a nationwide target on Thursday, South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, asserted that the country would not be bullied and that he would stand up for his state.
” We are witnessing the rise of nationalism, isolationism, the pursuit of narrow interests, and the reduction of popular cause”, Ramaphosa said during his State of the Nation address in Cape Town.
” This is the planet that we as South Africa, a developing market, had presently understand, but we are not intimidated”, he said.
” We are, as South Africans, a tenacious people, and we will never be bullied”, Ramaphosa said to cheers from some politicians in parliament.
The president of South Africa, who has recently made a strong criticism of Ramaphosa’s authorities, did not directly address the United States or Donald Trump.
deteriorating ties with the US
The comments come as Pretoria and Washington’s diplomatic relations unravel, and they come a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he would not be attending the Group of 20 ( G20 ) talks, which will take place in Johannesburg later this month.
” South Africa is doing pretty bad points. Expropriating personal home. Using G20 to market’ solidarity, fairness, &, conservation,'” Rubio posted on X. ” In other words: DEI and environment change”.
Since he returned to the White House for his second term, US President Donald Trump has consistently criticised DEI-related plans. La stands for diversity, equity, and participation.
Rubio opted not to attend the G20 summit days after Elon Musk, a native of South Africa, criticized the country’s authorities for an eviction act that Ramaphosa signed into law last month.
SA area plan a battleground
In some cases, the state does provide “nil payment” for property where property is expropriated in the public interest, according to the Expropriation Bill.
Trump claimed that the South African government had seized land and” treated some classes of people really hard” and that it would stop funding it entirely in the future.
With the passage of South Africa’s new land reform laws, foreign minister Ronald Lamola has refuted these accusations, saying that” there is no arbitrary displacement of land or private house.”
” This regulation is similar to the Eminent area rules”, Lamola said.
With respect to eminent domain laws, Lamola refers to a law that allows the state or the federal government to seize personal property for public use in the US as well as various nations.
In a nation where generally, discriminatory laws forced black families to be removed from their land, the apartheid government raises a lot of emotions regarding the land issue.
The South African government has to walk a political wire now while considering private land ownership while resolving the hardships of the history.
