In Context

Trump is Right to Censure South Africa, but Not for the Reasons He Claims

Mzoxolo Mpolase

By Mzoxolo Mpolase

Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he will cut US funding to South Africa over “land confiscations” and the treatment of “certain classes of people” is yet another example of an outsider misunderstanding the country’s reality.

His framing of the issue mirrors the rhetoric pushed by certain lobby groups that emphasise farm killings of white people and the threat of white-owned land being seized, while conveniently ignoring the broader crisis affecting all South Africans—black, white, and everyone in between.

The real problem is not a racialised campaign of dispossession or targeted attacks on white farmers. The real issue is that South Africa is a failing state, led by a corrupt and incompetent ANC government that has dismantled public safety, hollowed out the economy, and plunged millions into lawlessness and poverty.

Land expropriation without compensation is not about “giving land back to the people”—it is a desperate political ploy by a government that has looted the country dry and now seeks to manufacture a new scapegoat for its failures.

South Africa’s crisis is not black versus white. It is the ANC versus the people. And until this is recognised, nothing will change.

The Reality of Farm Killings and Land Expropriation

Farm killings in South Africa affect all people—black, white, and everyone in between. The country’s high crime rates and lack of law enforcement mean that farmers and farmworkers, whether white or black, are vulnerable to violent crime, just as millions of ordinary South Africans are.

The data does not support the notion that farm killings are part of a systematic campaign against white farmers. Rather, they are part of South Africa’s broader lawlessness, which disproportionately affects the poor and working class, most of whom are black.

Similarly, the fearmongering around land expropriation without compensation paints it as an attack on white-owned farms. But the biggest land at risk isn’t commercial farmland—it is communal land, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

Millions of South Africans live on this land, which is held in trust by traditional leaders rather than through formal land ownership titles.

The South African government previously indicated that the now amended Expropriation Act is a move against the Ingonyama Trust, which manages Zulu communal land under the authority of the Zulu King.

If the government succeeds in dismantling these structures, it will strip millions of black South Africans of their only real form of land security.

Communal land is what keeps South Africa from having perhaps one of the highest homelessness rates in the world. It allows people to obtain land—whether be they black or white—at ceremonial prices, set by traditional authorities, and provides stability that urban housing markets could never match.

Anyone from the Eastern Cape would tell you of private schools, resorts, backpackers, shops, and other businesses that operate on communal land—whether be they owned by black or white. The ANC’s attempts to interfere with this land show that their goal is not genuine redistribution, but control.

The Collapse of Rural Safety

Anyone who lives in rural areas—or even some urban areas—will tell you that police rarely arrive in time when a crime is committed.

If a crime occurs in the evening, police often only show up in the morning, citing “no available vehicles” or other excuses. These are the hallmarks of a failed state and an ANC government that has neglected rural safety entirely.

This dereliction of duty was exacerbated by the ANC’s decision to disband the Commando System, a rural defence initiative that played a crucial role in farm safety. The system was abolished under the justification that it was a remnant of apartheid, but, as with everything the ANC does, they removed it without any effective replacement.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) was supposedly meant to take over rural safety, but without increasing police numbers, resources, or infrastructure, failure was inevitable.

There are seldom police patrols in South Africa, whether in rural or urban areas. Everything is always reactive, always after the fact. In functional societies, visible policing is a deterrent—response times matter.

But South Africa does not have a well-trained, well-resourced, or professional police force. The structure may exist, but those in it do not measure up.

The average police officer leaves much to be desired, which is why many South Africans rely on private security companies as their first point of call in the event of a crime—while paying exorbitant taxes of up to 45%.

The government has effectively outsourced public safety to private companies, creating a two-tier system where only those who can afford security get protection.

The Real Issue: ANC Corruption and Failure

For the past 30 years, the ANC has ruled South Africa with increasing incompetence, corruption, and malfeasance. The country has deteriorated in every possible way—crime has surged, unemployment has skyrocketed, and poverty has deepened.

To frame these issues as a simple black vs. white conflict, as Trump and whomever informed him have done, is to miss the true power struggle: an elite ANC government vs. everyone else.

No one benefits from ANC policies except the ruling elite. The real victims of crime in South Africa are disproportionately black, not because of their majority status, but because of the ANC’s failure to enforce law and order.

The idea of “reverse apartheid” is a distraction when millions of black South Africans are just as poor, if not poorer, than they were under apartheid—while ANC leaders and their allies enrich themselves.

The Danger of Misframing Issues

Framing crime and land expropriation as “white-directed” problems is not only unhelpful, but it is also typical of how all issues in South Africa are presented. This skewed lens is what allows outsiders like Trump to latch onto misleading talking points promoted by certain lobbyists.

For example, South Africa faces a deeply serious crime crisis—murder, rape, theft, violent assault, organised crime, and rampant political corruption. Yet, the most aggressively promoted issue by some advocacy groups is gender-based violence (GBV), as if this is the only significant form of crime. This framing suggests that all other crimes are secondary or that they do not affect men.

In reality, men are not immune to crime—they are often victims of murder, robbery, and violent assaults in staggering numbers. But the narrative remains fixated on GBV as if crime in South Africa can somehow be solved through a gendered diagnosis.

This is the same flawed reasoning applied to farm attacks and land expropriation. It is positioned as a “white” problem when, in fact, it affects all South Africans. The focus on race prevents the real issues—crime, state failure, corruption, and lawlessness—from ever being properly addressed.

The Final Verdict

Trump is right to censure South Africa, but for entirely the wrong reasons. The real crisis is not about a racialised land grab or farm attacks targeting a specific group—it is about the total collapse of governance under the ANC.

The South African government has systematically dismantled safety structures, gutted the economy, abandoned rural communities, and allowed crime and corruption to fester unchecked.

It is not a case of “white dispossession” or “reverse apartheid”—it is an elite ruling class enriching itself at the expense of everyone else.

The ANC has turned South Africa into a gangster state where violence, unemployment, and economic decay are the only things that thrive.

Those in power do not fear crime, poverty, or landlessness—because they are protected, enriched, and immune from the suffering of ordinary citizens.

The only real victims are the millions of South Africans, black and white, who are left defenceless against a predatory government that robs them of opportunity, security, and a future.

This is not a race war. This is not a land war. This is a war between the people of South Africa and the ANC. And as I wrote in South Africa Under Ramaphosa: A Failed State in Plain Sight, this government has failed in every possible way. Until that is understood, nothing will change.

5 Comments

  1. S.McD says:

    Well written. It is indeed a fight against the ANC and that is why racism is blown up because the government doesn’t want the people of South Africa to stand together. As long as they can cause division our power is divided. We can only pray that people of all races will have their eyes opened and the spirit of Ubuntu will surge and the current government be dethroned. South Africa needs rescuing!

  2. Gary Porter says:

    Very well written.
    I grew up in SA a d want to return with all my heart.
    I wasn’t even aware that they were trying to grab rural land.
    Thank you for bring this into the open.

  3. Rob says:

    Well written. So many of us know the issues but to put it as clearly as that is brilliant. Thank you.

  4. A.K. Qreur says:

    The ANC has a problem: Their communist masters told them to destroy the country in order to take power. Then, when this was achieved, the communists were no longer there to tell them they may now stop the destruction.

  5. Glen says:

    A war between the people of South Africa and the ANC…? As if the people of South Africa never voted for the ANC….? Even in the last election, when you add the votes of the two competing ANC leaders–Zuma (15%) and Ramaphosa (40%)–you get 55%, which is a solid majority. (Mpolase has condemned both Ramaphosa and Zuma in the terms deployed in this article, so it is fair to tally numbers in this way). No. Betrayal, incompetence, theft, you bet. But not war. It is absurd to characterize the relationship between a governing elite in a democracy and its own voters as a war.

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