Why Trump Is Taking Aim at South Africa’s Land Laws: QuickTake

Land ownership in South Africa remains an explosive issue more than three decades after White-minority rule ended. US President Donald Trump falsely claiming that the government is engaging in land grabs has added more fuel to the fire.

He followed through on a threat to punish South Africa for adopting a new land-expropriation law, which he sees as race-based discrimination. Signing an executive order on Feb. 7 to halt aid to the country, Trump accused Pretoria of a “shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights” by enabling the seizure of “ethnic-minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ...