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South Africa's state-owned Land Bank said on Monday a plan to allow the state to seize land without compensation could trigger defaults that could cost the government 41 billion rand ($2.8 billion) if the bank's rights as a creditor are not protected. Land Bank is a specialist bank providing financial services to the commercial farming sector and other agricultural businesses. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Aug. 1 that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is forging ahead with plans to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation, as whites still own most of South Africa's land...

Donald Trump used videos of a Marxist firebrand politician to highlight the alleged persecution of white farmers in South Africa as the country’s president sat beside him. The US president dimmed the lights at an Oval Office meeting to play clips of Julius Malema, known for his anti-white rhetoric, who was this month blocked from visiting Britain. Mr Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party won just under 10 per cent of the vote at last year’s general election with a platform feeding on the disillusionment of many young black voters who have not seen their lives improve, despite the abolition...

South African politician Julius Malema, the leader of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, responded to President Donald Trump’s claims about “genocide” Wednesday by reiterating calls to kill white farmers. Earlier that day, Trump had shown visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa video of Malema leading rally chants of “Kill the Boer!”, “Kill the farmer!”, “Shoot to kill!”, and other incendiary slogans. Ramaphosa tried to argue that Malema’s rhetoric did not represent the government’s policies, but Trump countered that South Africa had passed a law allowing expropriation of land without compensation, that it had racially discriminatory laws, and that...

Donald Trump once again works his magic. A group of white South Africans has been granted refugee status in the US The first group of white South Africans arrived in the United States on Monday, the State Department announced following the prioritization of the Afrikaner refugee resettlement program.State spokesperson Tammy Bruce argued in a statement that the group is vulnerable and facing unjust racial discrimination in South Africa, saying taking them in is an action to protect victims of racial discrimination. They thank Trump. They wave the American flag. This has democrats ablaze in outrage. Representative of the left, Al...

U.S. President Donald Trump cut aid to South Africa last week due to what he described as “unjust racial discrimination” against Afrikaners over the country’s land reform law. Trump also cited South Africa’s International Court of Justice genocide case against Israel. An anti-South Africa stance was predicted to be a key feature of a second Trump administration’s foreign policy given Pretoria’s friendly relations with Russia and China, but few would have foreseen an executive order awarding refugee status to Afrikaners—the white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers who dominated the country’s politics and led the apartheid regime from 1948...

More than 10,000 white South African farmers have expressed interest in relocating to the United States following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The move has sparked intense debate, raising concerns about the potential economic and social consequences for South Africa. On 7 February 2025, Trump signed an executive order freezing aid to South Africa and prioritising the resettlement of Afrikaners in the United States as refugees. The White House cited South Africa’s recently enacted Expropriation Without Compensation Act, arguing that it discriminates against the white minority population by allowing the state to seize land without compensation. The...

This is a terrifying development but, to be honest, one you could see coming from a mile away.God help the white farmers and property owners of South Africa.The government has awarded a license to steal.It's not just farms. The law applies to any fixed property.— Martin van Staden (@Martin_ASFL) January 23, 2025As much as South Africa has tremendous natural resources and so much stunning natural beauty they could have a viable national economy on tourism alone, there is so much internecine tribal warfare and outright government corruption that they are a failed state in the last throes of exploiting every...

Blackrock has become the latest financial giant to take a step back from the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) Initiative and its efforts to cut so-called greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the year 2050 or sooner. Blackrock, which manages $11.5 trillion in assets, joins a growing number of firms who are walking back their support for climate and Environmental, Social and Government (ESG) commitments. According to Reuters, NZAMI has garnered more than 325 signatories that manage more than $57.5 trillion in assets, all of whom have pledged to support the goal of net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050 through...

The insurance industry is increasingly wary of the risks presented by climate and natural disasters, prompting major firms to scale back their presence in more vulnerable states. In June, Farmers Insurance announced in a company memo it will no longer write new property insurance policies in Florida, citing “catastrophe costs … at historically high levels.” Earlier in the month, AIG stopped issuing policies along the Sunshine State’s hurricane-vulnerable coastline. Those followed State Farm, California’s largest single homeowners’ insurer, which in May announced a moratorium on new policies in the state, blaming “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure.” The decision came after years...

Mexico finalized plans to take control of a port and quarry owned by Vulcan Materials Co. on its Caribbean coast, deepening tensions days before the nation’s president leaves office. Mexico finalized plans to take control of a port and quarry owned by Vulcan Materials Co. on its Caribbean coast, deepening tensions days before the nation’s president leaves office. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration declared the land south of the resort cities of Cancun and Playa del Carmen a natural protected area, according to a filing in the federal gazette published hours after US lawmakers sought to dissuade such a...

Despite acknowledging that the Center for Disease Control's moratorium against the collection of rent and against the eviction of nonpaying renters is illegal, President Biden allowed the CDC to extend the moratorium for another three months. "The bulk of the constitutional scholars think the moratorium is illegal," Biden admitted. "Hell, the Supreme Court recently declared that it is not legal. But there are a few scholars who have urged me to go ahead and see what happens. Who's to stop me?" Press Secretary Jen Psaki pointed out that "the President was very moved by the sight of prominent members of...

We have a property that abuts at the back onto a busy 2 lane thoroughfare (one direction each way) that is being expanded to 4 lanes (2 each way). Currently have a wooded barrier of about 30 feet deep which reduces the noise dramatically. Plus I put a wooden fence against an existing chain link fence to blunt the noise and give privacy. while I understand the need for the expansion (I use the road often and know expansion is necessary) I want to be compensated fairly as well. I’m going to lose about half of my backyard, including a...

Eskom’s warning that the country was threatened by months of rotating blackouts became a reality in less than 24 hours. The state-owned company, which produces most of South Africa’s power, said on Wednesday that controlled blackouts could return and last throughout the year. Even more concerning is that the company expects energy availability of the system will keep declining into early next year and probably only recover to current levels in six months. By Thursday, Eskom announced it was cutting 1GW from the grid. It doubled that amount on Friday in an outage that’s scheduled to last 13 hours. For...

Economic Freedom Fighters politician Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi said those arguing against legalising land grabs are ‘beneficiaries of racism’. ‘Your time is up, white people,’ She added.

Global economic jitters make this an especially bad time for developing economies to embark on bad policy experiments, yet that’s what South Africa did this month in advancing a sweeping plan to expropriate private land. The only saving grace is that voters will have a chance to weigh in before this scheme becomes law. A parliamentary committee on Nov. 15 recommended a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to expropriate land without compensation. The idea has been a fixation in South Africa for years, in the belief that bouts of poor economic growth arise because colonial rule left whites...

South Africa has been thrown into the news because of President Donald Trump's recent tweet that he instructed his secretary of state to "closely study" alleged land seizures from white farmers in South Africa. Earlier this year, a land confiscation motion was brought by radical Marxist opposition leader Julius Malema, and it passed South Africa's Parliament by a 241-83 vote. Malema has had a long-standing commitment to land confiscation without compensation. In 2016, he told his supporters he was "not calling for the slaughter of white people -- at least for now." The land-grabbing sentiment is also expressed by Lindsay...

South Africa's government has lodged a formal protest alleging that President Trump's tweet questioning its confiscation of the property of white farmers is "an inappropriate interference with the internal affairs of our country. We are a sovereign nation. Everyone living within our borders is ours to do with as we deem best. As recently as July of this year, American President Obama acknowledged that this property transfer is inspiring great hope in our country." While the property seizures violate the country's current constitution, President Cyril Ramaphosa is asking the Parliament "to change the constitution and allow the government to seize...

JOHANNESBURG—South Africa’s government on Thursday criticized a tweet by President Donald Trump in which he said he asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study efforts to overhaul land ownership and “large scale killing of farmers” in Africa’s most-developed economy. Mr. Trump’s overnight tweet referenced a report by Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacking the U.S. government’s stance on land reform in South Africa, which he suggested was too lax. South Africa’s rand fell against the dollar after the tweet, and was 1.3% lower in Thursday morning trade. The ruling African National Congress has said it plans to change the...

"The farms aren't just owned. They were created." The track record is that irrigation technology transfer hasn't worked; and transferred land mostly ends up lying fallow. "Let's say 15,000 farmers decide to stop farming in South Africa. That's 30,000,000 fewer meals every day."

South Africa will push ahead with plans to amend the constitution to allow land expropriation without compensation, its president says. In a recorded address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the ruling ANC will "finalise a proposed amendment" allowing the move. He said the reform was "of critical importance" to the economy. Recent months have seen growing anger about the slow pace of land reform in South Africa. The country's white minority is believed to have a disproportionate hold over land, with a few thousand white commercial farmers possessing the most fertile lands. However, critics fear expropriation could lead to land grabs,...