It’s no secret that Donald Trump has built his political career on lies, fearmongering, and exaggeration, and it’s no surprise that he’s using South Africa’s land reform policies to stoke his far-right base.
Trump’s claims that the South African government is allowing “ethnic cleansing” against white Afrikaner farmers is dangerous lies. And this is not about concern for farmers; he is intentionally fueling racial paranoia and giving white nationalists, both in the U.S. and beyond, exactly the kind of grievance-driven narrative they thrive on.
Even a semi-literate individual would understand the Expropriation Act. It’s simple: South Africa is the most unequal society in the world, and this is by design. The vast disparities in land and wealth ownership are the direct result of centuries of white supremacist rule—first under colonialism, then under apartheid. Today, only 7% of South Africa’s population—almost entirely white—owns 70% of private farmland, while over 64% of Black South Africans live in extreme poverty. These figures are not just statistics; they represent the enduring legacy of land dispossession, racial capitalism, and state-sanctioned theft.
Although we are yet to witness how viable and effective the land reform process will be, we know the law does not serve to “seize white farmland without compensation” in some act of state-sanctioned theft. According to the presidency, this will be a constitutional, legally defined process aimed at addressing a centuries-old crime: the forced removal of Black South Africans from their land.
South Africa’s land reform is not about punishing white people—it is about justice. But for Trump and Musk, justice itself is the enemy because it threatens the privileges their ilk have hoarded for generations. Instead of supporting real solutions, they feed their followers the same tired lie: the world is out to get white people, and only they—the wealthy and powerful—can protect them. It’s a grotesque con, but one they are more than happy to keep running. And now, to prove his point, Trump has chosen to sanction South African leaders, strip the country of all forms of U.S. aid, and offer white South Africans refugee status in the United States. This comes from the same man who has spent years demonizing and expelling refugees from war-torn, truly unsafe countries.