South Africa will defend sovereignty, says ANC chair amid US tensions

A senior official from South Africa's ruling ANC party has defended the nation's sovereignty amid escalating tensions with the US, which stem from race relations and a controversial new land law.

"We are an independent and sovereign nation. We are not a US province, and we will safeguard our sovereignty," stated Gwede Mantashe, the ANC's National Chair, during an address on Sunday.

The dispute began when US President Donald Trump criticized South Africa's new expropriation law, which he claimed could enable the government to "seize the agricultural property of ethnic minority Afrikaners without compensation."

In response, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasized that the law was designed to "ensure equitable and just public access to land."

While the expropriation law permits the government to seize land without compensation, it only applies under specific conditions.

Trump’s criticism in February also included an executive order that offered Afrikaners the possibility of refugee status in the US, referring to them as "victims of unjust racial discrimination."

Speaking at South Africa's Freedom Day event in Mpumalanga while standing in for President Ramaphosa, Mantashe condemned local citizens who had called for punitive measures from the US against their country.

"They are being told to go to the US as refugees, yet they refuse. If that's their choice, they should go," Mantashe remarked.

Tensions between South Africa and the US have also spilled into public discourse on Elon Musk's X platform, where Musk referred to the country's land ownership laws as "racist."

Despite the end of apartheid decades ago, white South Africans, who represent a minority, continue to own the majority of the nation's private land and wealth.

To ease the ongoing tensions, South Africa recently appointed Mcebisi Jonas as a special envoy to Washington.

Jonas will focus on advancing South Africa’s diplomatic, trade, and bilateral interests, according to President Ramaphosa.

This development follows the expulsion of South Africa's ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, by Washington after Rasool accused Trump of using "dog whistle" politics.

In a related matter, officials from Orania, an all-white separatist town founded by Afrikaners after apartheid, visited the US last month in a bid to seek recognition as an autonomous state.

In his Sunday speech, Mantashe suggested a potential solution for Orania, proposing the integration of black South Africans into the community.

"Black people must go there, build, and we mix them," he said, adding that "hatred can never survive peace. It is peace that builds a nation."