President Donald Trump’s threat of budget cuts has prompted Gwede Mantashe, South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources, to urge African countries to strike back.
President Trump reportedly halted all assistance to South Africa due to the country’s Exploration Act.
Africa’s natural riches are essential to the prosperity of the United States and the rest of the globe, Mantashe told them.
Speaking on Tuesday in response to Trump’s threat of budget cuts, the South African Minister of Mineral Resources made this statement.
The interview was shared on Tuesday by Newzroom Afrika, a South African company, on their X handle.
In his own words: “With this ongoing threat that, yeah, Trump will withhold funding to South Africa because you passed an exploration act.” Let’s not immobilize Africa, I replied; instead, we should deny the United States access to minerals. That’s about it.
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“Let’s not give them minerals if they don’t pay us. The truth is that they steal our minerals and then claim that we are wasting money. No, the continent is home to minerals. Thus, we possess something that we have.
“We need to use that endowment for the good of the continent, but we’re not just beggars.” However, if we are afraid of everything as a continent, we will collapse, and the collapse will occur with minerals at our doorstep. Thus, I am arguing that Africa is the richest mining jurisdiction on earth. Furthermore, we as a continent need to embrace that problem and make the most of it.
