On February 7, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to halt financial assistance to South Africa, citing concerns over the country’s land expropriation policies and its legal actions against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
The order also outlines a policy to facilitate the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees facing government-endorsed discrimination.
The U.S. administration has expressed disapproval of South Africa’s land expropriation law, which permits the government to redistribute land in certain circumstances to address historical injustices from the apartheid era.
Critics, including President Trump, argue that this law discriminates against the white Afrikaner minority and has been linked to violent attacks on minority farmers.
Additionally, the executive order references South Africa’s involvement in bringing genocide accusations against Israel to the International Court of Justice, a move that has further strained relations between the two nations.
In response to these developments, the U.S. plans to implement a program aimed at resettling white South African farmers as refugees, prioritizing humanitarian relief for Afrikaners, who are predominantly descendants of Dutch and French settlers.
