Elon Musk Blasts South Africa's 'racist Ownership Laws'

His comment, on X, follows US President Donald Trump's decision at the weekend to stop sending aid to South Africa over its land expropriation policies, a move that sparked a selloff in the rand on Monday.

The rand slid nearly 2 against the dollar in early Asia trading on Trump's comments, Bloomberg News reported .

"The United States won't stand for it, we will act," Trump said in a Sunday evening post on Truth Social. "Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!"

In response, Ramaphosa posted on X that his government "has not confiscated any land" and that the recently adopted Expropriation Act "is not a confiscation instrument" but rather a "constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution".

"South Africa, like the United States of America and other countries, has always had expropriation laws that balance the need for public usage of land and the protection of rights of property owners," Ramaphosa posted.