US President Donald Trump was well within his rights when he made much-talked-about utterances about the recently signed Land Expropriation Act by President Cyril Ramaphosa. That is according to Democratic Alliance’s Member of Parliament Willie Aucamp.
In a social media post by Trump, the US President accused South Africa of confiscating land from certain people and threatening that the US will cut off all future funding, drawing mixed reactions with some sectors accusing him of meddling in SA matters.
In a statement from the Presidency, Ramaphosa said the SA government had not confiscated any land and that the country was a constitutional democracy that was rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality.
However, speaking to the SABC outside Cape Town City Hall ahead of Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address later this evening, Aucamp says Trump, as a funder of certain South African government programmes, had the right to make such remarks.
“He’s the president of the United States. They give us money and he said certain things that he’s got problems with. So, it’s his full right as a president to make those remarks,” says Aucamp.
“We can’t stop him from making them. Whether we agree with him or we don’t that’s not the question. That is his point of view at this stage and we’ve got to convince him that things are different and that South Africa does not only consist of the ANC, that there are other parties in this government as the DA,” he adds.
Asked whether Trump could have been encouraged to meddle in the affairs of South Africa because of the DA’s controversial move to write to the US asking it to come observe the 2024 general elections, Aucamp insists there was nothing wrong with the DA’s move.
Ramaphosa is later this evening expected to deliver his first State of the Nation Address under the Government of National Unity and Aucamp says they are satisfied with their contributions to the address as partners in government.
“We as the Democratic Alliance have over many years promoted the involvement of the private sector in turning this country around. But as you can see, the ANC has also realised that we need the private sector,” he says.
“Let’s take for example, port and rails, the state alone would not be able to turn that around, without the assistance of knowledgeable companies and people. It doesn’t help that we can farm and manufacture the best products but we cannot export them because we don’t have good harbours. It doesn’t help us if we can’t turn Eskom around, and for many years, the Democratic Alliance has advocated for the privatisation of certain segments of Eskom and getting the private sector in to alleviate the problems we have had with our electricity,” says Aucamp.
Ramaphosa is expected to deliver his address at 7 pm.
