By Emmanuel Onyango
If US President Donald Trump had hoped to spark a public rift in South Africa with his executive order freezing funding to the country, then it took a few days to realise that the opposite is the case.
Rival political figures in South Africa have rallied for a rare showing of unity to protest against President Trump's order, including the filing of a criminal case for "treasonous actions" against a lobby group considered to have strong ties with the Trump administration.
The aid block was a culmination of tensions over sticking points in recent years between the two countries—including Israel's war on Gaza, the Russia-Ukraine war, and South Africa's prominent roles in BRICS and G20.
However, it is the land issue that has assumed prominence locally in South Africa.
Experts say Trump’s order freezing US funding has been taken in South Africa as external interference on domestic issues and an attack on their sovereignty.
“When it comes to sovereignty we always unite. We have differences, it might run on land or race and all other things. But when it comes to the country, the constitution and democracy we tend to rally around the flag,” Professor David Monyae, a director at the University of Johannesburg, tells TRT Afrika.
Land is a sensitive issue in South Africa, where privately-owned farmlands are concentrated in the hands of a few white people more than three decades after the end of the racist apartheid regime.
Trump's executive order was announced last week, with the White House citing the country's new law under which it claims Cyril Ramaphosa's government was "confiscating land."
President Ramaphosa has denied the claims and refused to budge on the legislation. Pretoria insists the new land law is not a "confiscation instrument" but a means to "ensure public access to land" in a "just and equitable manner." It has condemned the US "campaign of misinformation and propaganda" on the law.
Ramaphosa has won the backing of the parties of his sternest rivals—former President Jacob Zuma and opposition figure Julius Malema—on the land reform.
In parliament this week, Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party accused Trump of promoting claims of victimisation of white farmers in South Africa.
The party has separately filed a criminal case against AfriForum, a lobby group working to protect the interests of white South Africans, saying it misled the US on the new land law.
It accused the organisation of "treasonous" actions, economic sabotage, and an assault on the nation's independence. AfriForum has yet to publicly comment on the lawsuit.
On his part, Malema supported Ramaphosa for not allowing the US to treat South Africa unfairly. "The US has bullied nations before and imposed senseless and arbitrary sanctions and threatened war. But we are a different generation," he said in parliament.
"We agree with you, President, that we should not be bullied. We stand on the shoulders of the giants who confronted the establishment with their very lives, and we are willing to follow in their footsteps. We are not cowards, and they must not try us," Malema added.
Trump's order includes a provision for assisting Afrikaners to resettle in the US as refugees, escaping alleged state-sponsored mistreatment.
Afrikaners are a group of white South Africans descended from mainly Dutch farmers who arrived in the country centuries ago during the colonial period. They make up nearly 8% of South Africa's population of over 63 million and are among the wealthiest groups in the country.
However, Afrikaner groups have rejected Trump's offer of refugee status and rallied behind the South African government.
“You have to understand the Afrikan community is a proud nation, very proud. To be reduced to refugees, I don't think they can take that,” Professor Monyae tells TRT Afrika.
“Truly speaking, despite all the noise they are making, losing South Africa will be a blow. They will never have a better life than the one they are having here,” he adds.
Afrikaner representatives said they are connected to South Africa and the continent, and denied calling for sanctions against South Africa.
Many appeared stunned by Trump's resettlement offer, some expressed anger, while others mocked it outright on social media, questioning whether it was even necessary in the first place.
The sense of unity among South African politicians and groups appears uncommon, given it's less than a year since the country's most bitterly fought elections, with the governing ANC losing its majority in parliament for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.
The setback had forced the ANC to form a coalition government. Although the unity is rare, it's not all smooth. The Democratic Alliance party, which is the second-largest in the coalition government, has filed a case challenging some provisions of the land reform law, terming them '’unconstitutional'’.
However, the party has not shown support for Trump's order freezing aid to South Africa and has rejected his claims that the law allows for outright confiscation of land – especially from white South Africans.
"It is not true that the Act allows land to be seized by the state arbitrarily, and it does require fair compensation for legitimate expropriations," the Democratic Alliance, which draws its support mainly from white South Africans, said in a statement.
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