South Africa’s rand weakened after US President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of the country.
The currency fell as much as 1.1% and traded 0.7% weaker at 18.2563 rand per dollar as of 5:45 p.m. in Johannesburg, after Trump repeated on his Truth Social account that South Africa is confiscating farmers’ land and farms. The nation hasn’t seized any private land since the end of White-minority rule in 1994.
Trump also said he’s halting all federal funding to South Africa, and reiterated his offer of sanctuary to farmers he claimed are fleeing the country fearing for their safety. Trump on Feb. 7 signed an executive order halting all assistance to South Africa and offering to promote the resettlement of “Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored, race-based discrimination.”
South Africa isn’t going to partake in “megaphone diplomacy,” Agence France-Presse said, citing presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya. The country remains committed to building a mutually beneficial bilateral trade, political and diplomatic relationship with the US.
Trump’s latest salvo followed a statement posted earlier on X by his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, who said that his Starlink satellite-internet business is unable to operate in South Africa because of his race.
Musk has previously cited legislation that requires significant Black ownership — a policy implemented to redress the impact of apartheid on the nation’s Black majority — as the reason he won’t bring his business to South Africa.
This week, South Africa said the US notified it about withdrawing from a coal-transition pact to which it had committed $1 billion. Trump has also terminated thousands of health-care programs on the continent, including in South Africa.
“We are not daunted to navigate our path through this world,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech on Feb. 6, without mentioning Trump by name. “We will not be deterred. We are, as South Africans, a resilient people, and we will not be bullied.”
It’s unclear what other US federal funding to South Africa Trump seeks to end.
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