President Trump said he has directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to look into the “large scale killing of farmers” in South Africa after a…
President Trump said he has directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to look into the “large scale killing of farmers” in South Africa after a Fox News host said land seizures by the government were being ignored.
“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,” Trump wrote in a tweet late Wednesday . “‘South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.’” TuckerCarlson @FoxNews”
Trump’s tweet followed an episode of Tucker Carlson’s show where he called South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a “racist” and said he was “seizing land from his own citizens without compensation because they are the wrong skin color.”
Carlson also called out Pompeo by name and accused the State Department of ignoring the seizures.
A spokeswoman for Ramaphosa said Trump was “misinformed” and his government shot back in a series of tweets that the president was trying to sow racial discord.
“South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past,” the government wrote in a tweet .
“South Africa will speed up the pace of land reform in a careful and inclusive manner that does not divide our nation,” it added in another .
Ramaphosa announced earlier this month that his party, the African National Congress, was looking to change the constitution to allow for the seizure of land without compensation because whites represent 9 percent of the population but own 72 percent of the land.
No land has been seized yet and the change would require a vote in parliament.
Since the end of apartheid in 1994, Reuters reported, South Africa has used a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” program for the government to buy white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks.
But it has been burdened by bureaucratic red tape and many are calling to accelerate the policy.
According to statistics from AgriSA, an agricultural association, 47 farmers were killed in 2017-2018, but those numbers are at a 20-year low.
“It is regrettable that the tweet is based on false information,” South Africa’s foreign affairs minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, told Reuters.
But lawmaker Julius Malema, who has been leading the calls for the land seizures, told the US to butt out of the country’s affairs.
“We want to send a strong message to the U. S. to stay out of South Africa. You have caused enough problems in Africa,” he said.
Trump came under criticism in January after he reportedly expressed frustration with immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African nations, referring to them as “s—hole countries.”
But Trump has a fan of his stand on South Africa.
David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, tweeted “Thank You” in response to Trump’s tweet .
“Russia has already agreed to take in 15,000 White South Africans – your move, Mr. President,” he wrote.
