The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have launched a scathing attack on former U.S. President Donald Trump after he suggested skipping South Africa’s G20 Summit, citing unsubstantiated claims about white farmer violence and land reform.
In a fiery statement, the Red Berets dismissed Trump’s remarks as “disingenuous propaganda” designed to evade global scrutiny of his own controversial legacy. The party accused the ex-president of weaponizing misinformation about South Africa’s land redistribution policies to mask what they called his “failed economic genocide” against American workers through disastrous trade wars.
Trump’s comments referenced EFF leader Julius Malema’s advocacy for land expropriation – a core party policy addressing apartheid’s spatial injustices. However, the South African government maintains all reforms follow legal frameworks like the Expropriation Act.
“The Presidency wasn’t expecting him anyway,” a spokesperson for Cyril Ramaphosa quipped, downplaying Trump’s relevance to the summit.
The DA’s John Steenhuisen also rejected Trump’s racialized narrative, noting South Africa’s crime crisis affects all communities. But the EFF went further, comparing Trump’s rhetoric to U.S. imperialism that justified interventions in Iraq and Libya.
“His absence would spare us toxic American exceptionalism,” the EFF stated, framing it as an opportunity for the G20 to pursue “authentic multilateral solutions” without U.S. obstructionism.
The rebuke highlights how South Africa’s land debate continues to attract global misinformation, while revealing the EFF’s strategy of positioning itself as Africa’s anti-imperialist vanguard against Western interference. As the G20 approaches, the controversy underscores the delicate balance between addressing historical injustices and countering international smear campaigns.