S Africa says President Ramaphosa to visit the US amid tense relations

Johannesburg [South Africa], May 18: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was set to travel to the United States for a four-day working visit starting on Monday, his office has said, amid tense relations between the two countries.
"On Wednesday, 21 May 2025, President Ramaphosa will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House, in Washington DC to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest," the South African presidency said on Wednesday in a post on X.
"The President's visit to the US provides a platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries." The White House initially did not comment.
The relationship between the US and South Africa has been tense since Trump took office in late January.
In February, Trump announced the US would befreezing aid to South Africa, citing a new law allowing land to be expropriated if deemed to be in the public interest. Trump accused the government in Pretoria of "unjust and immoral practices" andinstructed all US government agencies to "halt foreign aid or assistance" for South Africa until it ends such practices.
The order also said that Washington would promote the resettlement of "Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation." The South African government said that Trump's executive order"seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda" against the nation.
The first white South Africans granted refugee status by the US arrived in the country on Monday, according to US media reports.
South Africa recently passed a law allowing the expropriation of land in the public interest to rectify injustices committed during the racist system of apartheid from 1948 to 1994.
At that time, land was systematically and unfairly distributed along ethnic lines, primarily to white South Africans.
White South Africans - who make up less than 10% of the population - still own the majority of the country's private land, more than 30 years after the end of the apartheid regime.
The law provides for compensation payments for landowners. Expropriations may only take place if previous purchase negotiations have been unsuccessful.
In March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared the South African ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, "persona non grata," citing the diplomat's argument that Trump is strengthening nationalist forces worldwide.
Rubio also refused to attend the G20 meeting of foreign ministers held in Johannesburg in February, claiming the country is "doing very bad things."
Source: Qatar Tribune