LISTEN | ‘If Trump withdraws aid, we can withdraw minerals’: Mantashe
Mineral and petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe has scoffed at US President Donald Trump's threat that the world’s largest economy will withdraw aid to the South African economy, saying South Africa could leverage its minerals in kind.
Mantashe delivered an opening address at the 2025 Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Monday. His remarks come after Trump said the US federal government would withhold aid funding to South Africa, claiming the government was “confiscating land”.
“Africa needs to accept its advantage and take charge of the growing demand. I have ministers in my cabinet who always worry about geopolitics, with this imminent threat that because we passed an expropriation act, Trump will withhold funding to South Africa.
“I said let’s not immobilise Africa. Let’s withhold minerals from the US. That is it. If they don’t give us money, let us not give them minerals. But the reality is they take our minerals but say they are withholding funding. No, we have minerals in the continent and therefore we have something. We are not just beggars,” the minister said to applause.
The annual mining industry event is traditionally opened by the president but the Presidency announced on Sunday evening Mantashe would lead the government delegation at the event on Ramaphosa's behalf.
The Expropriation Act, which Ramaphosa signed into law last month, makes no provision for confiscation of land. Still, on Sunday Trump posted on his social media networking site Truth Social that South Africa was confiscating land and “treating certain classes of people very badly”.
“A massive human rights violation, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The US won’t stand for it. We will act. Also, I will cut off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of the situation has been completed,” Trump said.
Mantashe said South Africa and the continent should be unapologetic about leveraging its mineral resources on the world stage to negotiate its own desired outcome, even when engaging global superpowers.
“If, as a continent, we are frightened, we fear everything, we are going to collapse and we will collapse with minerals at our doorstep. So my appeal is that Africa is the world’s richest mining jurisdiction and that issue is an issue that we must internalise as a continent [and] use to our advantage,” he said.
He pointed out that China builds its chrome industry from resources it imports from African suppliers but has a bigger industry of finished goods than any market in Africa. He called this “unnatural”.
“We export raw commodities, China stockpiles raw commodities and we continue mining. At this point, as is the case currently, China just floods the market with chrome and the price of chrome goes down, our chrome mining companies say they can barely survive, but they are the biggest producers and it is on their production that the price of chrome is suppressed by China.”
The Presidency released a statement to put the public at ease over Trump’s remarks, stressing South Africa is “a constitutional democracy deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality.
“The South African government has not confiscated any land. The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution.”
The Presidency said it looked forward to engaging the Trump administration over its land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest, adding there was no significant funding provided to South Africa by the US outside the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa's HIV/Aids programme.
Cover photo: Mineral and petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe. File image
