Another area identified by Mr Trump is property rights. In a move that America’s president seems to have conflated with actual land seizures, on January 23rd Cyril Ramaphosa, his South African counterpart, signed the Expropriation Act, which gives the state new powers to expropriate property in the “public interest”.

South Africa has been blindsided. There is much to criticise it for. The African National Congress policies have been failing for years. The ANC has lost so much support that it has been forced to go into coalition with the market-friendly Democratic Alliance, a party that ought to be much more to Washington’s liking.

U.S. President Donald Trump has followed through on his promise to punish South Africa by signing an executive order stopping all aid and assistance to the country over what he called a human rights v