The statement reads:
"The South African Communist Party (SACP) unequivocally condemns the right-wing conservative President of the United States, Donald Trump, in the strongest possible terms. We reject his imperialist agenda and the entire United States imperialism and its extension to our country with the contempt it deserves.
South Africa is an independent country with its own democratic sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are not a colony of the United States or any other state for that matter: we fought against and shall fight against any attempts at undermining our national independence, democratic sovereignty and territorial integrity. The SACP rejects with the contempt it deserves the agenda by the United States to operate outside both international convention and democratic multilateralism and make itself the ruler of the world.
We reaffirm our unwavering support for expropriation in line with our constitution and legal framework, including the recently assented Expropriation Act, which repealed the apartheid-era Expropriation Act. Trump’s opposition to the new law, as reflected in his misleading and reactionary statements, exposes his hypocrisy – he never expressed any misgivings about the apartheid-era legislation that entrenched racial land dispossession. In contrast, our new legislation aligns with our constitution’s mandate to “enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis” and to “redress the results of past racial discrimination”. The experience gained from implementing this new, democratic Expropriation Act may in fact necessitate its further strengthening to ensure the fulfilment of our constitutional obligations.
For the record, Trump is not the President of South Africa – he is the president of the United States. We will not allow him to interfere in our internal affairs, undermine our democratic national sovereignty, or impose his reactionary will upon our people. Our national self-determination was not handed to us on a silver platter by the imperialist-backed apartheid regime – it is the hard-won result of centuries of gallant resistance against colonial oppression and decades of liberation struggle. We have proven, beyond any doubt, our ability to stand firm against the racist regimes and agendas that once sought to subjugate our people.
Trump’s comments are based on a racist, distorted briefing from the beneficiaries of apartheid, falsely alleging that the South African government has “confiscated land” during this democratic dispensation and probably committed worse atrocities. In contradiction, it was under the racist regimes of colonial and apartheid oppression that the historical injustice of land confiscation occurred. This racist past and its legacy must be addressed. It is, among others, the historical task of the new Expropriation Act to do so. We will not allow Trump to enforce the legacy of colonial and apartheid land confiscation in our country.
Trump has parroted the maliciously fabricated junk, revealing his racist sympathies. Furthermore, Trump ignorantly assumes that South Africa is dependent on United States aid and has threatened to withdraw such support based on the racist blue lies. As President Cyril Ramaphosa clarified in an X post on 3 February 2025, “With the exception of PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS programme, there is no other funding that is received by South Africa from the United States”. Trump’s rants through the so-called “Truthing” and “reTruthing” on “TruthSocial” – his social media platform which should be aptly renamed “FalseSocial” – amount to nothing but “Falsifying” and “reFalsifying”.
Our constitution, the supreme law of our land, provides for deprivation of property, including expropriation, within a just and legal framework. It explicitly states, “No one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property”. Our constitution clearly states that, “Property may be expropriated only in terms of law of general application – for a public purpose or in the public interest”.
More decisively, our constitution states in no uncertain terms that no provisions in the property section, including those not covered in this statement,
“…may impede the state from taking legislative and other measures to achieve land, water and related reform, in order to redress the results of past racial discrimination, provided that any departure from the provisions of this section is in accordance with the provisions of section 36(1)”.
This section does not prohibit expropriation but rather provides the legal foundation for it under law of general application and limitation of rights if need be under section 36(1). We will not be intimidated by Trump’s racist fearmongering or the remnants of apartheid-era privilege that seek to derail democratic transformation by seeking to threaten us with the racist and conservative agenda that Trump has embraced. In South Africa, the conservative party seeks to perpetuate the legacy of the racist colonial and apartheid land dispossession and oppression. We shall not allow this to prevail, having fought such a gallant liberation struggle to undo the historical injustice.
The SACP remains resolute: South Africa belongs to all South Africans who live in it. We will not bow to imperialist threats. The struggle continues!"
sacp.org.za
