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In February 2025, news broke that U.S. President Donald Trump was cutting financial assistance to South Africa.
On February 16, 2025, an X user @Joe_Bassey claimed South Africa has officially suspended all American businesses within South Africa and stopped the exporting of minerals to the United States of America.
The post further added that this comes just a few days after Donald Trump cut off all funding from the US to South Africa, including USAID.
A screenshot of the claim
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Meanwhile, as at the time of this report, the post has gained 3.4 million views, 5.1k comments, 12k retweets, 51k likes and 2.9k bookmarks.
Also, a Facebook page, Afrocania, with 2.8 million followers, made a similar post emphasising that the South African government categorically made it clear to Trump that America is nothing without minerals from Africa.
“Also, if Trump thinks Africans are nothing but mere beggars, then he should go look for minerals elsewhere because Africa is tired of the blatant disrespect and disregard they keep getting from the Western world,” the report reads further.
Meanwhile, other posts we sighted also claimed that the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, had suspended the activities of about 600 US businesses operating in South Africa.
We decided to look into this claim if South Africa banned US businesses or halted the export of minerals to the US.
Where is South Africa?
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa(RSA), is located at the southern tip of Africa. It’s bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and Mozambique.
In South Africa, they have three branches of government and a capital city for each and they practice a parliamentary democracy.
The administrative capital is Pretoria, the legislative capital is Cape Town, and the judicial capital is Bloemfontein.
With a population of 64.49 million as of 2024 according to the worldometer, South Africa boasts one of the largest economies in Africa.
Cyril Ramaphosa is currently serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018.
ROUNDCHECK Findings
According to reports from SABC (South Africa Broadcasting Corporation), On February 3, 2025, South Africa’s mining minister Gwede Mantashe said during an annual summit that African countries should “withhold minerals” from the U.S. in response to any aid cut.
This remark by the South African minister came after Trump had announced he was cutting off all future funding to South Africa.
Meanwhile, ROUNDCHECK findings reveal that South Africa’s presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said the claim stating that South Africa has officially suspended all American businesses within South Africa and stopped the exporting of minerals to the United States of America was “not true at all” in a reply to the post on X on February 17, 2025.
Also, The Minerals Council South Africa, an industry support body, said they are unaware of government action affecting the sector’s trade with the US.
In a statement made by Spokesman Allan Seccombe and available to AFP Fact Check the council “has no notification of any mineral export bans to any country”.
South Africa And US Trade
ROUNDCHECK observed that South Africa is the largest exporter in Africa in Africa significantly contributing to US exports from the African continent, primarily with products like vehicles, jewelery, and metals under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) — a trade agreement that allows thousands of products from sub-Saharan countries to enter the US market duty-free.
In 2024, total trade between the US and South Africa was worth $20.5 billion, with South African exports ($14.7 billion) accounting for the majority while mining represented a large chunk of South Africa’s exports.
According to mining minister Mantashe, South Africa owns 37 percent of the world’s manganese ore reserves but only two percent is processed domestically.
The country also holds more than 90 percent of the reserves of global platinum group metals and is behind 75 percent of their supply worldwide.
Diplomatic Relations Between SA And US
The land bill, known as the Expropriation Act, drew criticism from South Africa-born Elon Musk, a powerful Trump adviser after its passage by the South African parliament.
The legislation replaces a 1975 apartheid-era law and is intended to align with the country’s democratic constitution.
On February 3, 2025, South African officials clarified that no land had been expropriated under the new law, despite Trump’s claims of “confiscations”.
ROUNDCHECK observed that due to these issues, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had to pull out of a G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting held in Johannesburg on February 22 and 23, 2025.
Verdict
The claim that South Africa bans American businesses and halts mineral exports to the US is MISLEADING. Our findings showed that the South African government did not suspend American businesses within South Africa or stop exporting minerals to the United States of America.
