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in line with our constitution and legal framework, including the recently assented Expropriation Act, which repealed the apartheid-era Expropriation Act.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.