SA rejects ‘megaphone diplomacy’ as Trump backs funding cut

SA will not engage in “megaphone diplomacy”, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson said in response to questions about US President Donald Trump stopping all federal funding to the country.

Vincent Magwenya said SA was “not going to partake in a counterproductive megaphone diplomacy”.

After US President Donald Trump said on Friday that his country was stopping all federal funding to SA.

Trump had already signed an executive order to cut US financial assistance to SA last month, citing disapproval of its land policy and genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Washington’s ally Israel.

“To go a step further, any farmer (with family!) from South Africa seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety will be invited into the US with a rapid pathway to citizenship,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Trump said this process would begin immediately.

Magwenya said the country remained committed to building a mutually beneficial bilateral trade, political and diplomatic relationship with the US and this relationship must be based on mutual respect and respect for SA’s independence and sovereignty.

White landowners still own three-quarters of freehold farmland. This contrasts with 4% owned by blacks, according to the latest 2017 land audit, who make up 80% of the population, compared with about 8% for whites.

Partly in an effort to redress this imbalance, Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Act in January.

US foreign assistance commitments to SA amounted to $323.4m (R5.9bn) in 2024, according to US government data.

Reuters