Muhsin Hendricks, known as the world’s first openly gay imam, was shot and killed in South Africa over the weekend, as authorities investigate whether the murder was a hate crime.
In a statement obtained by the BBC, police said that Hendricks was killed Saturday morning while traveling near the city of Gqeberha in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. His car was reportedly ambushed.
“Two unknown suspects with covered faces got out of the vehicle and started firing multiple shots at the vehicle,” authorities said.
Hendricks founded the Inner Circle, a safe haven for gay Muslims, shortly after coming out as an openly gay imam in 1996. He was previously married to a woman before divorcing her the same year that he came out.
TRUMP FREEZES AID TO SOUTH AFRICA, PROMOTES RESETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES FACING RACE DISCRIMINATION
Imam Muhsin Hendricks gets ready for the start of the Jumu’ah prayer at the Inner Circle Mosque, in Wynberg, in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2016.(Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)
“The Inner Circle is the longest standing, largest and most influential human rights organization in the world that deals with Islam, gender and sexual diversity from an Islamic theological perspective,” the organization’s website reads. “The Inner Circle works internationally and supports international affiliate organizations to do similar work, within an Islamic framework.”
In a statement, the Cape Town Ulama Board – an organization of Sunni leaders – condemned the murder but said its views do “not align with the views of the deceased.”
“We maintain that Islamic teachings firmly condemn violence, murder or such actions that undermine the rule of law and destabilize society,” the statement read. “Thus, the Cape Town Ulama Board urges our communities to allow the law to investigate the incident, and by following due process, we hope to maintain peace and order.”
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) said in a statement that they believe the killing “may be a hate crime.”
SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL LAND SEIZURE BILL, ERODING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
Imam Muhsin Hendricks leads the start of the Jumu’ah prayer at the Inner Circle Mosque, in Wynberg, in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2016.(Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)
“He supported and mentored so many people in South Africa and around the world in their journey to reconcile with their faith, and his life has been a testament to the healing that solidarity across communities can bring in everyone’s lives,” ILGA Executive Director Julia Ehrt said. “Our condolences go out to all who have been touched by his presence in all these years.”
In 2022, Hendricks raised concerns about a fatwa condemning homosexuality issued by the Muslim Judicial Council. The ruling found that homosexuality is incompatible with Islam, and said that gay Muslims “have taken themselves out of the fold of Islam.”
An aerial shot of Pollok Beach in Port Elizabeth, a city on Algoa Bay in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.(iStock)
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“While it did not come as a complete shock, it has left me sore considering that it was released when we just had Pride Month,” Hendricks said at the time. “The phrase homosexual was only coined in the 18th century and the Qu’ran has been around way longer before that, so how can there be scriptures condemning same-sex relationships?”
Authorities are actively investigating the incident. No additional details are known at this time.
Andrea Margolis is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can send story tips to [email protected].
Los Angeles’ Democratic Mayor Karen Bass Thursday conceded her Africa trip was “absolutely” a mistake and that she was working to regain the public’s trust after facing backlash for her botched response to the raging fires in her city last month.
“Absolutely it is, and I think that I have to demonstrate that every day by showing what we’re doing, what is working, what are the challenges,” Bass told NBC Los Angeles when asked if she’s trying to “regain confidence.”
The remarks come as Los Angeles faces rainstorms this week, which could create “debris flows” in areas where the fires burned, a landslide risk for what’s left of the disaster that tore through in separate fires in the region. There have already been mudslides in some scarred areas, according to Fox Weather.
LOS ANGELES WILDFIRE CZAR’S $500K PAYCHECK FOR 90 DAYS OF WORK DRAWS SWIFT BLOWBACK, MAYOR REVERSES COURSE
LA Mayor Karen Bass, left, and LA wildfires, right (AP)
Bass was in Ghana for the swearing-in of its president when the fires began, even though there was a high fire risk known at the time. The Palisades Fire started Jan. 7 and escalated through the night, but the mayor did not get back into the city until Jan. 8, and she did not answer repeated questions from a Sky News reporter upon her arrival in the United States.
Bass’ silence went viral and led to backlash from residents and social media.
Water is dropped by helicopter on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
Over 170,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for her to step down as mayor. The situation also resulted in public criticism of the mayor, ranging from former Democratic mayoral opponent Rick Caruso to liberal talk show host Bill Maher.
LA MAYOR KAREN BASS POSED FOR PHOTOS AT A COCKTAIL PARTY AS PALISADES FIRE EXPLODED
“LA’s mayor, Karen Bass, the Nero of American politics, was fiddling in Ghana while the city burned,” Maher said last month.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., suggested that Disney CEO Bob Iger run for mayor in 2026. When pressed on whether she took Khanna’s comments personally, Bass shrugged it off.
“I am focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is to make sure that our city is able to recover and rebuild, and that all of those individuals that lived in the Palisades can go home,” Bass told NBC Los Angeles.
Rick Caruso, a Democratic candidate for Los Angeles mayor, celebrates at his primary night gathering in Los Angeles June 7, 2022, with his family behind him. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
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The nearly 24,000-acre Palisades Fire destroyed over 6,800 buildings, damaged 973 buildings and resulted in 12 deaths, according to state government data.
Political fallout from the fire continues as Steve Soboroff, who’s tasked with recovery efforts, was slated to receive a $500,000 payday for the next three months from different charities. However, he will now be doing the job without pay after the amount raised eyebrows as some Californians build back from nothing.
Cameron Arcand is a politics writer at Fox News Digital in Washington D.C. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @cameron_arcand
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JOHANNESBURG — President Donald Trump’s executive order penalizing South Africa released on Friday has hit a raw nerve in the African nation. The order primarily aimed at land seizures comes as Pretoria has faced ongoing U.S. criticisms that it has operated against U.S. interests, including its support of the Palestinians in the International Criminal Court and its warm relations with China, Russia and Iran.
Friday’s executive order stated in part, “In shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights, the Republic of South Africa recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, to enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.”
“It is the policy of the United States that, as long as South Africa continues these unjust and immoral practices that harm our Nation: (a) the United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa; and (b) the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”
TRUMP FREEZES AID TO SOUTH AFRICA, PROMOTES RESETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES FACING RACE DISCRIMINATION
President Donald Trump takes part in a signing ceremony in the President’s Room at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025.(Melina Mara-Pool/Getty Images)
Friday’s executive order pointedly took aim at Pretoria’s foreign policy: “South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements … The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests.”
On Saturday the South African government responded, “It is of great concern that the foundational premise of this order lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognize South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid,” Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for the country’s International Relations Department, posted on X.
Phiri added that “we are concerned by what seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation. It is disappointing to observe that such narratives seem to have found favor among decision-makers in the United States of America.”
Farmers inspect show sheep in Philippolis, South Africa, on Nov. 1, 2024.(PAUL BOTES/AFP via Getty Images)
Although it lost its majority in last year’s elections, the African National Congress (ANC) is still the main party in South Africa’s present government of national unity. The party’s secretary general reacted to the offer that White Afrikaners can go become U.S. citizens by posting a photo on X. In it, a black man is standing by an open door and gesturing with both arms outside the door, suggesting Afrikaners should leave.
The government has claimed Whites of all backgrounds, not just Afrikaners, still own approximately 70% of South Africa’s land. The government is on record saying the Expropriation Act will only be used to take land needed for public purposes – such as for a new school – from people of any color when the owner refuses to sell, and even then there would be “fair and equitable compensation.”
Emma Powell, the international relations spokesperson for South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, told Fox News Digital that “for decades, the DA has opposed the ANC’s race-based policies. These policies have benefited the political elite while the vast majority of South Africans continue to languish in poverty.”
SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL LAND SEIZURE BILL, ERODING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are shown during the BRICS summit on Oct. 23, 2024.(ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
She continued that the DA “will be pursuing legal action to safeguard property rights. It is now time for the ANC to re-evaluate both their domestic and foreign policy positions, which actively undermine our national interests.”
Powell told Fox News Digital about “a high-level delegation to Washington, D.C., in coming weeks to engage with decision makers. The DA remains committed to protecting private property rights, fostering economic growth, and strengthening diplomatic ties with the U.S.”
Afrikaners, descendants of predominantly Dutch settlers who landed in Southern Africa in 1652, became the country’s rulers and are widely believed to have developed the apartheid system that separated Whites and Blacks, treating Blacks as second-class citizens.
U.S. and South African flags are shown at Union Buildings in Pretoria.(STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)
In a statement released on Saturday, AfriForum, a civil rights group that largely represents Afrikaners, expressed “great appreciation” for Trump’s action, which it said was “a direct result of President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government’s irresponsible actions and policies.”
It continued, “However, the civil rights organization and its sister institutions in the Solidarity Movement remain committed to Afrikaners’ future at the southern tip of Africa and insist that urgent solutions must therefore be found for the injustices committed by the South African government against Afrikaners and other cultural communities in the country.”
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Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema greets supporters in Pretoria, South Africa, on Feb. 2, 2019.(PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)
One of the more outspoken and extreme members of the government of national unity, Julius Malema, head of the South African minority party Economic Freedom Fighters, said on X, “In light of the aggression by the USA against South Africa, we must as a nation seriously consider strengthening ties with Russia, China and nations who belong to (the international trade body) BRICS to avoid unnecessary confrontations with maniacs such as Donald Trump.”
Malema has been taken to court on hate crime charges. In one instance, he sang the genocidal anti-apartheid struggle song “Kill the Boer, the farmer,” referring to the White descendants of Dutch settlers or “Boers” in South Africa.
President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order cutting all foreign aid to South Africa, citing concerns about the country “seizing” ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.
Trump alleged South Africa’s recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 “dismantles equal opportunity in employment, education, and business.”
The order notes “hateful rhetoric” and government actions have been “fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”
South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has criticized South Africa’s new land laws.(Evan Vucci/AP/RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images)
SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL LAND SEIZURE BILL, ERODING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa previously released a statement arguing that no land was confiscated.
“We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest,” according to the statement. “We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters.”
The act permits the country to take land for a public purpose or in the public interest, while offering just and equitable compensation.
However, Fox News Digital previously reported expropriation has yet to happen.
Cyril Ramaphosa waves as he arrives ahead of his inauguration as President, at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, South Africa, Wednesday, June 19, 2024.(Kim Ludbrook/Pool Photo via AP)
Elon Musk, leader of the DOGE team, publicly commented on the matter, accusing Ramaphosa of having “openly racist ownership laws.
The executive order also claims South Africa has taken “aggressive” positions toward the U.S. by accusing Israel of genocide – instead of Hamas, and “reinvigorating” its relationship with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.
Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, is pictured in July 2023.(Xabiso Mkhabela/Xinhua via Getty Images)
INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN, CONGRESS SHOWDOWN LOOMS WITH SOUTH AFRICA OVER SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA, US FOES
Pointing to those concerns, the executive order states the U.S. cannot support the South African government’s alleged commission of rights violations.
In addition to eliminating aid and assistance, the order notes the U.S. will promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored, race-based discrimination -which includes racially discriminatory property confiscation.
The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security will prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, according to the order.
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Fox News Digital’s Paul Tilsley contributed to this story.
Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing to attend the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Johannesburg this year, in protest of the South African government’s controversial land seizure bill.
The bill, which was signed last week, permits South African authorities to expropriate land “for a public purpose or in the public interest,” promising “just and equitable compensation” to those impacted by the bill. Although the majority of South African citizens are Black, most landowners are White — and this disparity has been a topic in South Africa for years.
The law also allows expropriation of land without compensation, but only in circumstances where it is “just and equitable and in the public interest.”
The G-20 summit is scheduled to kick off on Nov. 22 — but in a social media post on Wednesday, Rubio wrote definitively that he “will NOT” be there.
US FOREIGN AID IS SUPPOSED TO SERVE AMERICAN INTERESTS, SAYS MARC THIESSEN
Marco Rubio is refusing to go to South Africa for G-20.(iStock / Getty)
“South Africa is doing very bad things,” Rubio’s X post read. “Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.’”
“In other words: DEI and climate change,” the Republican added. “My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”
President Donald Trump‘s administration has been vocally critical of the land seizure bill. In a Truth Social post, Trump called the situation a “massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum.”
RUBIO HEADS TO PANAMA, LATIN AMERICA TO PURSUE TRUMP’S ‘GOLDEN AGE’ AGENDA
Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a plane en route to El Salvador at Panama Pacifico International Airport in Panama City on Monday. Rubio is in Panama on a two-day official visit. (Mark Schiefelbein/Pool AP/AFP via Getty Images)
“It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention,” Trump wrote in a post. “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”
The South African government has coolly responded to the Trump administration’s accusations, denying that any unjust confiscation has occurred.
“We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. “We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters”.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, South African analyst Frans Cronje proposed that Trump alluded to the ongoing killing of farmers in South Africa when he talked about certain classes of people being treated “very badly.” The attacks have been perpetuated against both White and Black farmers.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, left, and President Donald Trump, who has criticized the country’s new land laws.(Evan Vucci/AP/Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images)
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“President Trump’s recent comments on land seizures in South Africa cannot be divorced from his past comments on violent attacks directed at the country’s farmers,” Cronje said. “Whilst these comments have often been dismissed as false, the latest South African data suggests that the country’s commercial farmers are six times more likely to be violently attacked in their homes than is the case for the general population.”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Tisley contributed to this report.
Andrea Margolis is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can send story tips to [email protected].
President Donald Trump’s administration is facing scrutiny this week after working with billionaire Elon Musk to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an organization Musk called a “viper’s nest” of mismanaged funding.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) worked with the Trump administration to shut down USAID on Monday. While the agency’s long-term future remains unclear, lawmakers and activists have repeatedly accused USAID of using funding to leverage policy changes across the globe. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the organization was frequently used to push abortion in Africa, critics say.
Biden cleared path for international abortion push
President Joe Biden cleared the path for international abortion funding just days after he entered office in 2021.(Susan Walsh/AP)
Biden cleared the path for U.S. funding to flow toward pro-abortion groups across the globe just days after entering office. He signed an executive order rescinding the Reagan-era “Mexico City Rule” on Jan. 28, 2021.
The rule, first rescinded by President Barack Obama and then reinstated during Trump’s first term, prevented foreign aid from going to nongovernmental organizations that promote abortion or provide abortion services.
“These excessive conditions on foreign and development assistance undermine the United States’ efforts to advance gender equality globally by restricting our ability to support women’s health,” Biden said at the time.
HIV INFECTIONS HAVE DROPPED IN RECENT YEARS, CDC SAYS, BUT AGENCY CALLS FOR GREATER EQUITY
Biden’s rule change cleared USAID to send millions in funding to aggressive abortion organizations like Marie Stopes International (MSI). MSI said it relied on USAID for 17% of its total donor income under the Obama administration, adding that the lack of U.S. support created an $80-million “funding gap” over the final three years of Trump’s term.
The group said the countries most heavily impacted by the lack of funding were Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Biden accused of ‘hijacking’ AIDS program to push abortion in Africa
GOP Rep. Chris Smith spoke to Fox News Digital about abortions being performed in Africa at the taxpayers’ expense.(Getty Images/Fox News Digital)
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., accused Biden in 2023 of “hijacking” a successful AIDS relief program to push an international abortion agenda.
Smith’s accusations centered on PREPFAR, a funding program within USAID that, at the time, had already allocated some $100 billion toward fighting AIDS across the world, saving 25 million lives and preventing millions of infections.
Smith says two groups, Population Services International (PSI) and Village Reach, had received $96.5 million and $10.1 million, respectively, from PEPFAR under Biden, and both groups have a track record of pushing abortion.
“PSI proudly proclaims it provides abortion and lobbies to eliminate pro-life laws,” Smith said at the time. “PSI provides comprehensive abortion and post-abortion care services in nearly 20 countries throughout the world.”
BIDEN POLITICAL APPOINTEES TO HIV COUNCIL HAVE ‘WOKE’ PASTS TIED TO DRAG QUEEN STORY HOUR, PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Smith alleged Village Reach used PEPFAR funds “to promote abortion in Malawi and lobby for changes in pro-life laws” and also “helped Malawi establish a government-funded hotline (that included providing information and referrals for ‘sexual and reproductive health,’ i.e., abortion).”
A third group, Pathfinder International, received $5 million in PEPFAR funding from 2021 to 2023. Smith said the group “lobbies to weaken or eliminate pro-life laws in nations around the world” and is “explicit in its promotion of abortion in other countries, stating it is “committed to expanding access to … safe abortion.”
Biden admin accused of pushing lax abortion laws in Sierra Leone
Presidents Trump and Biden reversed one another’s policies on funding abortions abroad.(Getty Images)
Biden’s administration was accused in December of pressuring the government of Sierra Leone to adopt more permissive abortion policies in exchange for foreign assistance.
A report from the Daily Signal stated that The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government-run funding allocator, was threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in foreign assistance funding if the nation didn’t relax its policies, a former senior U.S. government official told the outlet.
The MCC CEO Alice Albright signed an agreement with Sierra Leone’s finance minister, Sheku Bangura, in late September. The agreement called for the country to receive $480 million in foreign assistance so long as it met the MCC’s “rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights.”
The organization denied any effort to influence Sierra Leone’s abortion policies in a statement to Fox News Digital in December.
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“The Millennium Challenge Corporation is unaware of any Sierra Leonean abortion legislation and has never made any requests to the Government of Sierra Leone regarding abortion policies. Any such legislation would be an internal matter for Sierra Leone with no U.S. government developments fund made contingent on its passage,” the organization said in a statement.
Footage circulating on social media showed raucous pro-life protesters demonstrating inside Sierra Leone’s parliament at the time as lawmakers debated legislation detailing more permissive abortion rules.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
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JOHANNESBURG – President Donald Trump’s announcement that he plans to cut off all foreign aid to South Africa because he claimed it is “confiscating” land “and treating certain classes of people very badly” in “a massive human rights violation” has provoked strong reaction from the South African presidency and commentators.
“The South African government has not confiscated any land”, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded in a statement, adding “We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest. We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters”.
Last week, Ramaphosa signed a bill into law permitting national, provincial and local authorities to expropriate land – to take it -“for a public purpose or in the public interest,” and, the government stated “subject to just and equitable compensation being paid”. However, sources say no expropriation has happened yet.
SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL LAND SEIZURE BILL, ERODING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, center left, waves as he walks past Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, during a family photo session in front of the Osaka Castle at the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019.(Tomohiro Ohsumi/AFP via Getty Images)
On his Truth Social Media platform, President Trump hit out at South Africa, posting “It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” Trump later repeated his comments while speaking to the press on Sunday night at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Pieter du Toit, assistant editor of South African media group News 24, posted on X “The U.S. President, clearly advised by Elon Musk, really has no idea what he’s talking about.”
South African-born Musk is trying to expand his Starlink internet service into South Africa, but President Ramaphosa has reportedly told him he must sell off 30% of his company here to local broad-based so-called Black empowerment interests.
In response to the South African president’s statement, Musk fired back on X, asking Ramaphosa, “Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?”
INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN, CONGRESS SHOWDOWN LOOMS WITH SOUTH AFRICA OVER SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA, US FOES
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks to supporters during the ANC Siyanqoba Rally held at FNB Stadium on May 25, 2024 in Johannesburg.(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Analyst Frans Cronje told Fox News Digital that President Trump may be referring to the ongoing killing of farmers in South Africa when he posted that certain classes of people are being treated very badly.
“President Trump’s recent comments on land seizures in South Africa cannot be divorced from his past comments on violent attacks directed at the country’s farmers. Whilst these comments have often been dismissed as false, the latest South African data suggests that the country’s commercial farmers are six times more likely to be violently attacked in their homes than is the case for the general population.”
Cronje said there may be agendas in play behind President Trump’s statements.
“Such seizures may also apply to the property of American investors in South Africa. Cronje is an adviser at the U.S. Yorktown Foundation for Freedom. He added “with regards to land specifically, the legislation could enable the mass seizure of land which has been an oft expressed objective of senior political figures in the country. To date, however, there have been no mass seizures, in part because there was no legislative means through which to achieve such seizures.”
Farmers inspect show sheep at the Philippolis Show in Philippolis, South Africa, on Nov. 1, 2024.(Photo by PAUL BOTES/AFP via Getty Images)
Now, with the bill having been signed into law, Cronje says that has changed.
“The comments around property rights in South Africa must be read against broader and bipartisan US concern at developments in South Africa. In 2024 the US/South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act was introduced (in Congress) amid concerns that the South African government’s relationships with Iran, Russia, and China threatened US national security interests.”
Cronje, who also advises corporations and government departments on economic and political trajectory, continued. “Last week, South Africa’s government, together with that of Cuba, Belize and four other countries supported the formation of the ‘Hague Group’ in an apparent move to shore up the standing of the International Criminal Court, amid the passage through Congress of the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act that prescribes sanctions against any country that is seen to use the court to threaten US national security interests. South Africa has in recent years been prominent in employing both that court and the International Court of Justice in the Hague to press for action against Israel and Israeli leaders.”
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, left, and President Donald Trump. Trump has criticized South Africa’s new land expropriation law.(Evan Vucci/AP/RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images)
South Africa’s Ramaphosa played down the importance of U.S. aid, stating “with the exception of PEPFAR (The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIVAids program, there is no other significant funding that is provided by the United States in South Africa.” President George W. Bush introduced PEPFAR in 2003.
Analyst Justice Malala, also speaking on ENCA, said that, under the Trump administration, “the United States is going to upend South Africa in many ways.”
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JOHANNESBURG- Fighting reportedly over minerals needed for electric cars and mobile phones has become the Trump administration’s first real foreign affairs test in Africa.
Bodies lie rotting in the streets, and hospitals have been overwhelmed with casualties in Goma, a city of 2 million people in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). M23 rebels, backed, the United Nations and other sources say, by neighboring Rwanda, are said to have taken over the city.
“The M23 appears to have taken control of a significant portion of the city following intense fighting with the Congolese army,” The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated Wednesday, adding, “Reports have emerged of looting of shops, offices, and warehouses belonging to humanitarian organizations, while heavy gunfire and explosions have been heard in various parts of the city.”
OCHA added “Local sources believe the civilian casualties are significant, although [an] assessment is yet to be conducted.” Thirteen South African peacekeeping troops have been killed over the past week.
13 UN PEACEKEEPERS, ALLIED SOLDIERS DEAD IN CONGO AS M23 REBELS MAKE GAINS IN KEY CITY
March 23 Movement (M23) rebels gather for large-scale protests as they set on fire the Rwandan, French, Belgian and Kenyan embassy buildings and loot some shopping centers during anti-Rwandan demonstrations allegedly supported by M23 and rebels in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Jan. 28, 2025.(Chris Milosi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho., recently stated in part that, “The M23 must immediately stop their advance on Goma, and all parties must cease hostilities, restore unhindered humanitarian access, and honor their commitments.”
In the DRC’s capital, 10 foreign embassies, including the U.S. mission, have been attacked. Some, including the French Embassy, have been set on fire.
“The M23 or March 23 Movement is a Tutsi-led and eastern-DRC based insurgent movement born around 2012”, Frans Cronje, adviser at the U.S. Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, told Fox News Digital. He added “The ensuing conflict has been sustained for more than 3 decades, in large part as a consequence of the extraordinary mineral wealth of the DRC.”
Cronje, who also advises corporations and government departments on economic and political trajectory, continued. “According to a United Nations report, M23 has raised significant sums from ‘taxing’ minerals mined in areas under its control – a practice common to armed groups operating in the DRC.”
President Donald Trump speaks about the midair crash between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a military helicopter in Washington, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Trump was later asked about the violence in the DRC and called it a “very serious problem.”(Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
This is borne out by a 160-page report commissioned by the U.N. Security Council from their “Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo”, and presented to the council late last year.
The report states M23 and Rwanda Defence Force operatives in the DRC captured “the Rubaya mining sites – one of the world’s largest sources of coltan – a mineral used in EV batteries – on 30 April 2024.”
M23 rebels patrol in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.(AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
The U.N. report says the M23 joined up with another rebel group, the AFC (the Congo River Alliance), “and levied taxes and in-kind payments on the sale and transport of minerals. The tax on a kilogram of coltan and manganese was $7, while the tax on tin (cassiterite) was $4 per kilogram. AFC/M23 thus collected at least $800,000 monthly from the taxation of coltan production and trade in Rubaya.”
Cronje pointed out this week that there are other precious metals M23 has its eyes on too. “The DRC accounts for between 70-80% of the world’s Cobalt production. Cobalt’s importance is such that the U.S. Department of Energy has listed it as one of seven minerals essential to U.S. economic competitiveness, while the Department of Defense identified cobalt as having ‘critical’ applications. Alongside that, the DRC is the third-largest producer of copper in the world, accounting for about 11% of global production.”
President Donald Trump spoke about the fighting on Thursday. “It is a very serious problem. I agree, but I don’t think it’s appropriate right now to talk about it,” when asked about it during a briefing on the deadly airline crash in Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon.
BIDEN ADMIN’S DRIVE FOR GREEN ENERGY LEADS TO ACCUSATIONS OF FORCED CHILD LABOR MINING FOR EV BATTERY METALS
Boys said to be mining for cobalt in a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.(ILO/UNICEF)
However, the State Department is speaking on the issue, calling for a ceasefire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Rwandan President Paul Kagame, “the United States is deeply troubled by [the] escalation of the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC, particularly the fall of Goma to the Rwandan backed M23 armed group,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated, adding “the secretary urged an immediate ceasefire in the region and for all parties to respect sovereign territorial integrity,” adding that the overriding goal of the United States is a durable peace that addresses security concerns and lays the foundation for a thriving regional economy.”
Kagame responded on X, posting that his conversation with Rubio was “productive.” He said it covered “the need to ensure a ceasefire in (the) Eastern DRC, and address the root causes of the conflict once and for all.”
Kagame added, “I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to create the prosperity and security that the people of our region deserve.”
“The M23 conflict is indeed about minerals, but more so Rwandan ambition to control and administer much of Congo’s North Kivu”, Bill Roggio, editor of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital. “Rwanda would like to control not only the minerals, but also the entire trade in the region, and flex its muscles as a new regional powerhouse in central and East Africa. Rwanda also claims it is about border security, but really it’s more about its own geopolitical ambitions in the region.”
Roggio continued, saying that it “is somewhat related to the Biden administration’s inability to bring both Congo and Rwanda to the table and negotiate real settlements, either through the Luanda Process or the earlier Nairobi Process.” He added “especially it is a failure to put enough pressure on Rwanda to pull back its support for M23, as the Obama administration had accomplished in 2012 when M23 previously captured Goma, but were forced to withdraw after the U.S. pressured Rwanda.”
For the new administration, there is a chance here to make positive steps towards a positive legacy in Africa. Michael Rubin told Fox News Digital, “For Trump and Rubio, they have the opportunity to do something different that could fix the problem permanently.”
Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and in 2024 embedded for several weeks with the M23 rebels.
INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN, CONGRESS SHOWDOWN LOOMS WITH SOUTH AFRICA OVER SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA, US FOES
Members of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) ride on a pickup truck as they secure the evacuation of non-essential UN staff, following the fight between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, on January 25, 2025.(Reuters/Arlette Bashizi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Rubin continued, “What we’ve had for too long is that old definition of insanity: doing the same thing repeatedly, but expecting different results. There’s been two Congo wars, and if we try to apply the same band-aid to a sucking chest wound this time, there will be a third.”
The blame should rest not on Rwanda, Rubin believes, but on the DRC. “The narrative that the DRC is the victim and Rwanda and Uganda aggressors is tired. The problem is Kinshasa. If Tshisekedi (Felix Tshisekedi, DRC President) can stop armed groups in the south, he can do so in the east as well. He turned to ethnic incitement to distract from incompetent government; that never ends well.”
Rubin added that “the arguments about Rwanda looting the region are not valid. Businessmen in North Kivu, are blunt: Rwanda and Uganda charge less in customs duties than Kinshasa extracts in taxes. Kinshasa cries wolf because Kigali outcompetes them. If Kinshasa wanted businessmen to turn to them, try lowering taxes and building plants to turn raw materials into something with higher sale value.”
China and Russia stand on the sidelines, waiting to choose who they dance with to get the DRC’s minerals. China has spoken out against the M23. It threatens their mining interests in the country. Additionally, soldiers from Russia’s Africa Corps, the former Wagner Group’s private army of mercenaries, have been seen in Goma, propping up the DRC’s soldiers against the M23.
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Cronje told Fox News Digital Russia and China are poised to potentially support the winner, saying “the geostrategic importance of the region is such that all global powers have an interest in influencing the balance of power in eastern DRC either directly or indirectly.”
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JOHANNESBURG – To counter the perceived threat of terror from Iran and jihadi groups, South Africa’s chief rabbi is setting up a specialist task force.
Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein was spurred into creating the group after a bomb attack at a Jewish center in Cape Town last month. An improvised explosive device was thrown at the Samson Community Center but failed to detonate. The center is home to several South African Jewish organizations.
The “Counter-Terror Task Force” will make recommendations to protect places of worship, schools and community centers.
“South Africa’s Jewish community, like other Jewish communities globally, faces heightened risk of terror attacks,” Goldstein told Fox News Digital. “The Iranian regime is the world’s chief exponent of state-sponsored terror, and have made it their strategy to target Jewish communities worldwide. With this in mind, the findings of the task force will be applied not just in South Africa, but globally.”
GLOBAL RISE IN ANTISEMITISM LEAVES JEWISH COMMUNITY ISOLATED, RABBI SAYS WORLD AT ‘A TIPPING POINT’
A man brandishes a replica toy gun during a pro-Palestinian demonstration organized by the South African opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters in front of the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on Oct. 23, 2023.(Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)
He added, “In addition, Africa has over the past decade become a hub for global jihadi terror, with the threat indices dramatically increasing as groups such as al-Shabab, Boko Haram and ISIS operate throughout the continent.”
The task force comprises global authorities on terror: Admiral Mike Hewitt, former deputy director for Global Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the U.S. Defense Department, Dean Haydon, former senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism in the United Kingdom, Major General David Tsur, former commander of the counter-terrorism unit in the Israeli Police, and Andre Pienaar, co-founder of South Africa’s Directorate of Special Operations, also known as the Scorpions.
FILE- Members of the Iranian revolutionary guard march during a parade. The IRGC is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department. A large part of its work is to covertly operate outside of Iran. (Reuters.)(Reuters)
The chief rabbi added, “They will be marshalling additional resources and personnel as and when needed.”
Goldstein said the force’s immediate objective “is to secure the South African Jewish community against attacks. The broader objective is to better ensure the safety of all South Africans, and citizens of countries around the world.”
He continued, “Across Africa, especially, it is Christians far more than Jews who suffer the consequences of Jihadist terror. Each year, Jihadists murder thousands of Christians for their faith.”
South Africa Chief Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein.(The Office of The Chief Rabbi)
Goldstein told Fox News Digital that the South African government’s stance at the International Court of Justice, where it has accused Israel of genocide over the war in Gaza, has “stigmatized Jews not only within the country but globally.”
INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN, CONGRESS SHOWDOWN LOOMS WITH SOUTH AFRICA OVER SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA, US FOES
However, Goldstein added that the views of the government here are not necessarily the views of the people. “Against that it must be understood that the South African public generally holds moderate and pragmatic views on Israel, and levels of domestic antisemitism remain very low by Western standards.”
“There were 128 recorded antisemitic incidents in 2024 in South Africa,” Professor Karen Milner, national chair of the Jewish Board of Deputies in South Africa, told Fox News Digital. “This makes it the second-highest number of incidents since record keeping began in 1998. The highest number of incidents was recorded in 2023 (182). However, 63% of these occurred immediately following the events of October 7 (the Hamas attack in Israel).
Members of the Active African Christians United Movement pose as one of them blows through a shofar, a ritual musical instrument used to usher in the Jewish New Year, as others gather in support of Israel outside the Embassy of Israel in Pretoria, South Africa, on Nov. 17, 2023.(Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET/AFP via Getty Images)
“The early months of 2024 were impacted greatly by the wave of antisemitism that immediately followed the October 7 attacks in Israel,” Milner continued. “It is worth noting that the majority of the antisemitic incidents recorded in 2024 were verbal assaults, targeted hate mail, or antagonism, with very few incidents graduating into physical assault.”
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Milner concluded, adding, “with that said, antisemitism remains much lower than other comparable countries, and South Africa remains a safe space in which Jews can identify as Jewish and practice their religion in relative security.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the South African Justice and Police Departments but did not receive a response.
