US secretary of state says he is not going to attend talks in South Africa amid spat over land expropriation regulation.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has mentioned he’ll skip Group of 20 (G20) talks in South Africa amid an escalating spat between Washington and Pretoria over a controversial land expropriation regulation.
Rubio’s announcement on Wednesday got here days after US President Donald Trump threatened to chop help to South Africa over its passage of laws permitting the seizure of land with out compensation in sure circumstances.
South Africa, which holds the G20 presidency till November 2025, is about to host a gathering of overseas ministers from February 20-21 in Johannesburg.
“South Africa is doing very dangerous issues. Expropriating personal property. Utilizing G20 to advertise ‘solidarity, equality, [and] sustainability.’ In different phrases: DEI and local weather change,” Rubio mentioned in a put up on X.
“My job is to advance America’s nationwide pursuits, not waste taxpayer cash or coddle anti-Americanism.”
I’ll NOT attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
South Africa is doing very dangerous issues. Expropriating personal property. Utilizing G20 to advertise “solidarity, equality, & sustainability.” In different phrases: DEI and local weather change.
My job is to advance America’s nationwide pursuits, not…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 5, 2025
Rubio’s announcement was greeted with dismay by critics of the Trump administration.
“This present of weak spot hurts our nationwide safety and financial system whereas benefiting China,” Andrew Bates, who served as White Home senior deputy press secretary beneath the administration of former US President Joe Biden, mentioned in a put up on X.
“Should you’re not on the desk, you’re on the menu.”
On Monday, Trump accused the administration of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of “confiscating land” and mistreating “sure courses of individuals”, prompting a rebuttal from Pretoria.
Ramaphosa mentioned the regulation was not a “confiscation instrument” however a part of a “constitutionally mandated authorized course of” that may guarantee public entry to land in an “equitable and simply method”.
Beneath the regulation signed by Ramaphosa final month, the federal government could seize land with out compensation the place it’s “simply and equitable and within the public curiosity”, equivalent to in circumstances the place a property is unused, and the place it has been unable to succeed in an settlement with the proprietor.
Ramaphosa and his African Nationwide Congress have defended the laws as essential to alleviate big disparities in land possession stemming from the legacy of the racist system of apartheid.
The federal government has but to expropriate any land beneath the regulation.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s major opposition get together and a member of the ANC-led nationwide unity authorities, has opposed the regulation, warning that it undermines property rights and will scare off overseas funding.
Nevertheless, the DA, which pulls most of its assist from white, Indian and Colored (multiracial) South Africans, has expressed “deep concern” about Trump’s risk to chop help and mentioned it’s a false impression that land might be seized “arbitrarily”.
Land possession is a delicate and polarising challenge in South Africa as a result of historical past of Black individuals being compelled off their lands and denied entry to property.
Whereas Black South Africans make up greater than 80 % of the inhabitants, they personal simply 4 % of privately owned farmland, in response to a authorities audit carried out in 2017.
White South Africans, who’re principally descended from British and Dutch settlers, maintain about three-quarters of the land regardless of making up slightly greater than 7 % of the inhabitants
Trump’s risk to chop funding to the African nation comes as his administration has positioned a freeze on almost all overseas help and put most workers of the US Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID) on administrative depart.
Washington allotted about $440m in help to South Africa in 2023, in response to the latest authorities knowledge.
