South Africa Bishops urge racial healing as Trump condemns country’s land policy

February 21, 2025 | Silas Isenjia, catholicnewsagency.com

ACI Africa, Feb 21, 2025 / 11:50 am

In an interview with the SACBC communication office, the director of the SACBC Justice and Peace Commission, Father Stan Muyebe, OP, said the recent dispute between the two governments has reopened the wounds of land injustices during the apartheid era in the southern African nation.
The development in South Africa concerning land, he said, “is a very complex and very sensitive issue that calls for genuine reconciliation.”
Muyebe made reference to the country’s constitution and explained that any land restitution should not undermine food security or economic productivity.
He said further in reference to the constitution: “Although the government has introduced new legislation to accelerate land redistribution, controversy remains regarding the extent and manner of compensation.”
“We are confident that this matter will be addressed when the legislation is taken for review at the constitutional court, which will most likely happen,” the priest said.
According to a Reuters report, the U.S. administration’s disapproval of South Africa’s land reform policies has jeopardized the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade agreement allowing South African agricultural products tariff-free access to U.S. markets.
In the Feb. 17 interview with the SACBC communications office, Muyebe also weighed in on the suspension of U.S. foreign aid to South Africa, describing the move as a wake-up call to African leaders to address “dependency” and “find a way in which critical programs that we have in Africa should be funded internally.”