August 26, 2018 
South Africa hit back at Donald Trump on Thursday after the US President criticized the country’s land reform policies in an overnight tweet.
The controversy began when Trump tweeted late Wednesday that he had 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.”
Trump’s tweet appeared to be in response to a report on Fox News which alleged that the South African government was “seizing land from white farmers.”
On Thursday, the South African government said Trump’s tweet was “based on false information” and said it would call on the US Embassy to explain the President’s remarks.
“South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past,” the government tweeted. “South Africa will speed up the pace of land reform in a careful and inclusive manner that does not divide our nation.”
Land is a complex issue in South Africa. Racist policies of the past forcefully removed black and non-white South Africans from the land for white use.
There has been a land redistribution and restitution provision in the country’s constitution since South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994. The government has been criticized for not moving quickly enough to settle land disputes.
The political debate over land reform has stepped up a level ahead of next year’s elections.
Farm seizures, as described in the Fox report, are not ongoing in South Africa. However, President Ramaphosa announced on July 31 that the ruling African National Congress would seek to change the country’s constitution to explicitly allow land that was seized during apartheid to be expropriated without compensation.
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