Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration is freezing aid to South Africa citing a new law allowing land to be expropriated, in some instances, if deemed to be in the public interest.

In a Friday executive order, Trump accused the government in Pretoria of "unjust and immoral practices."

He instructed all US government agencies to "halt foreign aid or assistance" for South Africa until it ends such practices.

The order also said that Washington would promote the resettlement of "Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation."

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South Africa recently passed a law allowing the expropriation of land in the public interest to rectify lasting injustices caused by the racist system of apartheid.

At that time, land was systematically and unfairly distributed along racial lines, primarily to white South Africans, who still own disproportionately large amounts of land.

The law provides for compensation payments for landowners. Expropriations may only take place if previous purchase negotiations have been unsuccessful.

The measure has attracted attention in far right and white supremacist circles, particularly with the involvement of South African-born Elon Musk, Trump's billionaire acolyte.

The State Department said Saturday the US would welcome so-called "persecuted South African farmers."

They "and other innocent victims being targeted solely based on their race who choose to resettle in America will be welcome," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on X.

"The United States will also defend the rights and interests of those remaining descendants of settlers threatened with expropriation without compensation and other intolerable abuses," Bruce added.

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Trump had threatened last weekend to cut off all financial aid to South Africa after suggesting that the country's white minority could be harmed by the law.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would not be attending a meeting of G20 foreign ministers later this month in Johannesburg over the law, accusing South Africa of "doing very bad things."

Pretoria has repeatedly rejected Trump's accusations, calling them "misinformation."