Johannesburg – April, 2025: The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have sharply rebuked former U.S. President Donald Trump following his inflammatory remarks suggesting he might skip the upcoming G20 Summit in South Africa, citing unsubstantiated claims of land seizures and genocide targeting white farmers.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the EFF dismissed Trump’s comments as “delusional disinformation” and accused him of deliberately stoking false narratives to undermine South Africa’s sovereignty and leadership.
Trump, posting on his Truth Social platform, questioned the rationale for attending the summit, stating: “They are taking the land of white Farmers and then killing them and their families. Is this where we want to be for the G20? I don’t think so!” The post also featured a video of EFF leader Julius Malema discussing land reform in Parliament—an inclusion the party condemned as a deliberate attempt to misrepresent their position and fuel racial tensions.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo condemned Trump’s statements, asserting that they are part of a broader imperialist playbook. “The EFF takes serious exception to Donald Trump’s connection of his false claims of land confiscations and a genocide against white South African families with the President of the EFF, especially since we know that Donald Trump governs through social media,” said Tambo.
The EFF branded Trump a “tariff-wielding barbarian” and questioned whether he would still be in office by the time of the summit, citing what they called his “recklessness and economic illiteracy.”
Going further, the party accused Trump of abusing U.S. trade policy for personal gain: “Trump essentially used the US economy as a means to practice insider trading and defraud the American people of billions in their life savings and pensions,” Tambo alleged.
The EFF also linked Trump’s outburst to recent tensions over South Africa’s vocal criticism of U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. “Today, because South Africa and the president of the EFF have correctly condemned the USA’s role in funding the genocide of Palestinian people by apartheid Israel, Trump has turned his attention to South Africa,” said Tambo.
Framing the controversy within a historical context, the EFF accused the U.S. of habitually using human rights rhetoric to justify foreign intervention. “It is the strategy of imperialism to frame a nation it intends to invade and disrupt politically and economically as a nation that is violating human rights,” Tambo said, referencing U.S. actions in Iraq, Libya, and Venezuela.
In a final rebuke, the party welcomed the possibility of Trump’s absence from the G20 summit: “His non-attendance would be an opportunity for the leading nations of the world to consolidate an economic recovery plan that does not rely on the US dollar,” the statement concluded.
The G20 Summit, scheduled to be held in South Africa later this year, marks the first time the country will host the forum, amid growing calls across the Global South for a multipolar economic order.