23 August 2018•Update: 24 August 2018
By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG
The South African government has described U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweet about the country’s planned land reform as “a narrow perception which only seeks to divide the nation”.
Trump tweeted early Thursday that he had asked his Secretary of State Mark Pompeo to study alleged ongoing South Africa farm seizures and the "large scale killing" of white farmers.
“South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers,” he said.
The South African parliament recently passed a resolution to change the constitution so as to allow the expropriation of land without compensation.
The majority of the land in South Africa, including commercial farms, belong to white South Africans whose land could be expropriated for redistribution to landless black citizens.
Most black South Africans do not possess land and live in shanty towns.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said the expropriations will help the landless construct homes and farm. The ANC has also said this will address the past injustice of apartheid during which whites seized land belonging to blacks.
“South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past," the South African government said in response to Trump’s tweet.
The South African Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “It is regrettable that the [Trump] tweet is based on false information.”
The statement said the minister had instructed to seek clarification on the matter from the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria.
