We, South African Civil Society organisations, looking to protect and promote human rights
and democracy in our country, are appalled not only at the threats issued by US President
Trump against South Africa but by his dangerous lies.
South Africa’s government and executive are frequently deserving of fierce criticism. And
we are proud of our record in doing so and of our unrelenting efforts to hold them to
account.

But the idea that South Africa is “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people
very badly” is demonstrably untrue and would be absurd were this lie not now being
propounded at the very highest levels of US government.
The recently promulgated Expropriation Act does not look to confiscate land but is an
attempt to address the dispossession and removal from land that long characterized
South Africa’s history and remains a festering sore in our country. It looks to secure a
peaceful, prosperous future for all South Africans while respecting the rights of current
property owners.

Moreover, our Constitution and our courts have long been praised globally for their
championing and protection of human rights and civil liberties. Such flaws as there may be
with the Expropriation Act will be fully scrutinized by our court system, and if found
wanting, struck down.

How ironic that Trump in fighting off the various criminal charges he has recently faced
should have compared himself to democratic South Africa’s first president, Nelson
Mandela, when it was Mandela who pointedly observed that democracy in SA must mean
addressing centuries of land dispossession and denial, “creating opportunity for the poor
to provide for themselves, their families and their communities, and to contribute to the
wealth of the country as a whole through productive agricultural enterprise.”
In his threat, Trump leaves unstated exactly who the certain classes are who are being
treated very badly. Thirty years after democracy, South Africa remains among the most
unequal places on earth with that inequality largely tracking racial lines: the typical Black
household in South Africa owns 5 per cent of the wealth held by the typical White
household. For far too many South Africans democracy has yet to allow an escape from
crippling poverty.

Another bleak irony of Trump’s threat is that the most significant funding contributed by
the US to South Africa at present goes to healthcare-related initiatives. Those most directly
impacted by any US funding cut are likely to be already among the most desperate,
destitute South Africans. Trump’s actions will only make them more so and by potentially

fueling tensions between the “haves” and the “have-nots” in South Africa may
inadvertently threaten the interests of those “certain classes” for whom Trump ostensibly
seeks to act. As South African civil society we will remain engaged, as we have always been, in the
search for a more perfect union in our country – in seeking to hold our government to
account, protect democracy and human rights, and eradicate poverty and human misery.
We are unquestionably saddened that those we once took to be potential partners in this
endeavour – to perfect our union as they looked to perfect theirs – should shamefully have
abandoned that enterprise. But we are enraged that through thuggery and threat they
would now look to deliberately endanger our endeavour.
Afesis

Alliance for Rural Democracy
Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
Campaign on Digital Ethics
Campaign for Free Expression
Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution
Corruption Watch
Defend Our Democracy
Foundation for Human Rights
Helen Suzman Foundation
Justice and Activism Hub
Land Access Movement of South Africa
Media Monitoring Africa
Open Secrets South Africa
Public Interest South Africa
Public Affairs Research Institute
Socio-Economic Rights Institute
South African Green Revolutionary Council
The Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation
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sesi@freeexpression.org.za