WEB DESK
The South African government has sharply criticized a comment by US President Donald Trump about its proposed land seizure policy.
Trump tweeted on Wednesday that he had asked his Secretary of State to closely study South Africa’s land and farm seizures and expropriations. He wrote that the “South African government is now seizing land from white farmers.”
The tweet referred to the policy proposed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office in February. The plan would allow the government to seize land without compensation. Most of the country’s farmland is owned by white farmers.
I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2018
Trump was apparently responding to a Fox News report on Wednesday. It said the South African government had already started seizing land without compensation because the owners are “the wrong skin color.”
Some say Trump’s tweet may be aimed at white voters in the United States ahead of the US midterm elections in November.
The South African government tweeted on Thursday that it “totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide the nation and reminds it of its colonial past.”
US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Thursday that the expropriation of land without compensation would not be a good thing and would send South Africa down the wrong path.