In a recent development, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused South Africa of “anti-Americanism” and refused to attend a G20 meeting in Johannesburg later this month. This move comes as diplomatic ties between the two countries continue to deteriorate under Donald Trump’s administration .
Rubio’s announcement was made on X, where he repeated Trump’s unfounded claim that South Africa is expropriating private property. Rubio stated that South Africa is “doing very bad things” and that his job is to advance America’s national interests, not to “waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”
The US president’s claim about South Africa’s land expropriation policies has been met with criticism, as it is based on limited circumstances and is similar to policies in the US. South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has signed a law allowing for land expropriation with no compensation in certain cases, which politicians argue is similar to US policies on land expropriation for public projects.
South Africa’s foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, has responded to Rubio’s claims, stating that “there is no arbitrary dispossession of land/private property” and that the country remains committed to engaging with the US government.
The US relationship with South Africa has been strained since the previous US president, Joe Biden, when South Africa refused to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine war and continued to participate in the Brics bloc. The US has also criticized South Africa’s international court of justice case against Israel, calling it “meritless.”
