US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had asked his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to closely study the proposed land reform by the South African government.
"I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 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," Trump said in a tweet.
But Floyd Shivambu, deputy president of South Africa's third biggest party, took exception to Trump's tweet, replying that land expropriation in South Africa would happen whether he (Trump) likes it or not.
"That’s madness and highest form of foolishness by a racist bigot, who lacks the basic intelligence to understand anything. South Africa will never be intimidated by global racists who believe in lies. Land expropriation will happen against all forms of threats by Foolishness," Shivambu retorted in a tweet.
Afrikaans rights lobby group Afriforum - which has declared that apartheid was not a crime against humanity - travelled to the United States in May to lobby international investors to divest in South Africa if the government went ahead with land expropriation without compensation.
Afriforum has also been very vocal about the killings of white farmers in South Africa, even inviting British controversial TV personality Katie Hopkins to South Africa to report on farm murders which she claimed was a result of ethnic cleansing.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Review Committee of Parliament said on Wednesday that it was considering a preliminary report on written submissions, and an initial report on the nationwide public hearings conducted over the past two months on the proposal to amend section 25 of the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation.
Replying to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday President Cyril Ramaphosa urged members of Parliament to focus on stability in the country and on the achievement of development through transformation.
He said a programme of land redistribution was required to heal the historical “festering wound” of land dispossession and enable the transformation and development without which South Africa will experience instability.
Ramaphosa said the government was working with its social partners to address the immediate economic challenges and to effect far-reaching reforms, that will place the economy on a new path of inclusive growth and job creation.
- African News Agency (ANA)
