She used art to fight apartheid. Now it's Trump and Musk in artist's sights

Ahead of a career retrospective, activist Sue Williamson, 84, tells Rachel Savage how the US president and his ally are trying to gaslight South Africa

- 

For more than 50 years, Sue Williamson’s art has been shining a light on South Africa’s problems – first to campaign against the apartheid state, and then to question how far the country has progressed in reconciliation and remembrance.

But as she prepares for her first retrospective exhibition, the 84-year old artist has a new pair of targets in sight: US president Donald Trump and his billionaire, South African-born adviser, Elon Musk.

After Musk railed against South Africa’s “openly racist policies” on his social media platform X earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order cutting aid to the country, accusing its government of “unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaners and offering them asylum in the US.

The order also said: “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.”

Speaking from her studio in Cape Town, Williamson said: “Trump and Musk are just gaslighting, because of the judgment of the international court of justice (ICJ) against Israel.”

South Africa brought a case against Israel at the ICJ in December 2023, accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In January 2024, the UN court ordered Israel to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide, although it has not yet ruled on its previous acts. Israel has fiercely rejected the case.

“They’re trying to set it up that South Africa is not a credible country to bring such a case,” Williamson said. “You’ll see South Africa dragged through the mud a lot more by Netanyahu [Benjamin, prime ministers of Israel] and Trump and Musk.”