A senior leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), Gwede Mantashe, has defended the country’s sovereignty amid escalating tensions with the United States over South Africa’s newly enacted expropriation law and issues of race relations. Speaking on Sunday during South Africa’s Freedom Day celebrations in Mpumalanga Province, Mantashe asserted, “We are a free country, we’re a sovereign country. We’re not a province of the United States, and sovereignty will be defended.”
The remarks come after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 criticizing South Africa’s new land policy, claiming it allows the government to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.” Trump’s order also opened the pathway for Afrikaners to seek asylum in the US as “victims of unjust racial discrimination.” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the law, stating that it ensures “public access to land in an equitable and just manner.” The law allows expropriation without compensation, but only under specific conditions.
Tensions between the two nations have intensified, leading to the expulsion of South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, after he accused Trump of engaging in “dog whistle” politics. In response, Ramaphosa appointed Mcebisi Jonas as a special envoy to the US to manage diplomatic, trade, and bilateral relations. Adding to the controversy, tech billionaire Elon Musk—a South African native—has publicly criticized the new land ownership laws as “racist” on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
Mantashe also took aim at South Africans advocating for US intervention, saying, “Now they are told to go there and be refugees, they are refusing. They must go.” The situation has been further complicated by a visit to the US by officials from Orania, an all-white separatist town in South Africa, seeking recognition as an autonomous state.
In his speech, Mantashe proposed integrating Orania, stating, “Black people must go and build there, and we mix them,” adding that “hatred can never survive peace” and that “peace builds a nation.” The situation continues to evolve as South Africa navigates both domestic challenges and heightened international scrutiny.
