In a speech to Parliament this week, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said the forced removal of any people from their land will never be allowed in South Africa again after millions of blacks were dispossessed of property under the apartheid system of white minority rule and hundreds of years of colonialism before that.
In the order, Mr Trump said South Africa’s Afrikaners, who are descendants of mainly Dutch colonial settlers, were being targeted by a new law that allows the government to expropriate private land.
Hundreds of protesters held placards that read “Thank God for President Trump” and displayed other messages criticising what they see as racist laws instituted by the South African government that discriminate against the white minority.
Influential Trump adviser Elon Musk - who was raised in South Africa - has also criticised South Africa’s government and claimed it is anti-white for years, although some have questioned his motivations.
The South African government has denied its new law is tied to race and says Mr Trump’s claims over the country and the law have been full of misinformation and distortions.
