South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that his country “will not be bullied,” days after former U.S. President Donald Trump said he would cut off funding to South Africa over a land reform act.
Trump said on Sunday, without citing evidence, that “South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly,” alluding to a new law which aims to even racial disparities in land ownership.
Addressing growing geopolitical tensions in his annual state of the nation address, Ramaphosa did not mention Trump by name.
“We are witnessing the rise of nationalism, protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests and the decline of common cause,” he said. “We will stand together as a united nation, and we will speak with one voice in defence of our national interests.”
The remarks follow criticism of South Africa by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This week Rubio said he would not attend an upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg because “South Africa is doing very bad things” such as “using G20 to promote solidarity, equality, and sustainability.”
South Africa took over the G20 presidency in December, becoming the first African country to do so, and Ramaphosa has said he would use the opportunity to advance the interests of Africa and the Global South.
Ramaphosa also addressed domestic issues, saying the government would launch a second wave of reforms to try to lift economic growth above 3 percent. The focus would be on boosting struggling state companies like power utility Eskom and logistics group Transnet and investing in infrastructure.
South Africa is about seven months into a coalition government that was formed after the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in an election last year, forcing it to team up with its biggest rival, the Democratic Alliance.
The central bank’s most recent forecast is that Africa’s most industrialised economy will grow 1.8 percent this year.
