JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's executive lashed out at President Donald Trump on Thursday after he tweeted that his administration can be taking a look into alleged seizures of white-owned farms and the "large scale killing of farmers" within the nation, an assertion it mentioned used to be false and "only seeks to divide our nation and remind us of our colonial past."
South Africa is within the throes of a racially charged national debate over land reform, a lawful procedure that seeks to proper the legacy of decades of white minority rule that stripped blacks of their land. Today, just about a quarter-century after the first democratic elections, black South Africans include 80 p.c of the population however own just 4 consistent with cent of the country's land, in keeping with the federal government.
Though the ruling African National Congress has pledged to near that gap, growth has been slow. In July, President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned his party would amend the charter so the state may just expropriate land without compensation to speed up the land reform procedure, however that has now not yet took place and no land has been seized.
Trump's tweet followed a phase on Fox News on Wednesday in which host Tucker Carlson claimed Ramaphosa had already began "seizing land from his own citizens without compensation because they are the wrong skin color," calling the alleged seizures "immoral."
The executive mentioned Trump's tweet used to be in line with "false information" and reflected a "narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past." It known as a meeting with officers at america Embassy because it sought to explain Trump's remarks.
Though no land seizures have passed off, the prospect has despatched panic via some white farming communities who worry the policy will strip them of their land, cause land costs to plummet or lead them to the objective of doubtless violent land seizures.
For years, a small however vocal team of white South Africans have claimed white farmers are the objective of violent, racially motivated farm attacks.
Experts say the attacks reflect the country's normally prime crime charge and that there is not any evidence connecting them to the victims' race.
Farm murders were declining since their height in 2001, in keeping with research by Agri SA, an umbrella team of South African agricultural associations. In 2016-17, there have been 74 murders all the way through farm attacks, in keeping with Africa Check, in comparison to 19,000 murders around the nation in the similar duration.
"People are not being targeted because of their race, but because they are vulnerable and isolated on the farms," mentioned Gareth Newham, head of the crime and justice program at the Institute for Security Studies within the capital, Pretoria.
"There is no white genocide in South Africa," Julius Malema, chief of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party, informed journalists. "There is black genocide in the USA; black people are killed every day. There is a black genocide here in South Africa; just recently a farmer was convicted for the murder of a black farmer."
Trump's tweet did in finding some supporters.
AfriForum, a gaggle that represents some white South African interests, welcomed his feedback. In May, its leaders went to the U.S. to lobby officers and establishments about Ramaphosa's proposal to expropriate land and the alleged concentrated on of white farmers.
Earlier this month the crowd posted a list of farms it mentioned have been earmarked for expropriation, a list the federal government mentioned is fake.
"Everyone in South Africa should ... hope that the pressure from the USA will lead to the (ruling party) reconsidering the disastrous route that they want to take South Africa on," AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel mentioned in a observation Thursday.
AfriForum and different critics say the federal government's proposal to expropriate land without compensation may just result in economic disaster, pointing to the collapse of the rural sector in neighboring Zimbabwe after the federal government of former President Robert Mugabe started seizing white-owned farms, every now and then violently, in 2000.
"We are going to take back the land and we'll do it by any means necessary," mentioned Lindsay Maasdorp, national spokesman for Black First Land First, a gaggle that condones land seizures in South Africa.
Proponents of South Africa's policy, together with Ramaphosa, say it will be important to handle historic injustices and can also be done in a way this is lawful and will not compromise the beleaguered financial system or meals security.
"It is absolutely unbelievable that a head of state at that level can be so disrespectful to issues of dispossession that South Africa is painfully trying to address in a democratic way," Vuyo Mahlati, president of the African Farmers' Association of South Africa, mentioned of Trump.
Later on Thursday in Washington, the State Department toned down Trump's language suggesting that massive land seizures have been underway. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert mentioned expropriating land without compensation "would risk sending South Africa down the wrong path," however she did not repeat the president's advice that large numbers of white South African farmers had been killed.
In parliament on Wednesday, Ramaphosa mentioned land expropriation may just make extra land to be had for cultivation, and that the method would start by seizing state-owned land, now not privately held land.
"This is our South Africa, this is our land, this is where we live," Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane informed South Africa's public broadcaster SABC. "Only solutions of land reform that are South African will work in South Africa."
Trump has never skilled apartheid and does not know its legacy of inequality in which the majority of South Africans own nothing, Zizi Kodwa, a member of the ruling party's national executive committee, informed The Associated Press.
"He is part of the right-wing lynch mob using the fear factor in order for us to maintain the status quo," Kodwa mentioned. "Donald Trump is a weapon of mass destruction."
South Africa is within the throes of a racially charged national debate over land reform, a lawful procedure that seeks to proper the legacy of decades of white minority rule that stripped blacks of their land. Today, just about a quarter-century after the first democratic elections, black South Africans include 80 p.c of the population however own just 4 consistent with cent of the country's land, in keeping with the federal government.
Though the ruling African National Congress has pledged to near that gap, growth has been slow. In July, President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned his party would amend the charter so the state may just expropriate land without compensation to speed up the land reform procedure, however that has now not yet took place and no land has been seized.
I've asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to intently study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriati… https://t.co/iE6t1j1dak
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1534991325000Trump's tweet followed a phase on Fox News on Wednesday in which host Tucker Carlson claimed Ramaphosa had already began "seizing land from his own citizens without compensation because they are the wrong skin color," calling the alleged seizures "immoral."
The executive mentioned Trump's tweet used to be in line with "false information" and reflected a "narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past." It known as a meeting with officers at america Embassy because it sought to explain Trump's remarks.
Though no land seizures have passed off, the prospect has despatched panic via some white farming communities who worry the policy will strip them of their land, cause land costs to plummet or lead them to the objective of doubtless violent land seizures.
For years, a small however vocal team of white South Africans have claimed white farmers are the objective of violent, racially motivated farm attacks.
Experts say the attacks reflect the country's normally prime crime charge and that there is not any evidence connecting them to the victims' race.
Farm murders were declining since their height in 2001, in keeping with research by Agri SA, an umbrella team of South African agricultural associations. In 2016-17, there have been 74 murders all the way through farm attacks, in keeping with Africa Check, in comparison to 19,000 murders around the nation in the similar duration.
"People are not being targeted because of their race, but because they are vulnerable and isolated on the farms," mentioned Gareth Newham, head of the crime and justice program at the Institute for Security Studies within the capital, Pretoria.
"There is no white genocide in South Africa," Julius Malema, chief of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party, informed journalists. "There is black genocide in the USA; black people are killed every day. There is a black genocide here in South Africa; just recently a farmer was convicted for the murder of a black farmer."
Trump's tweet did in finding some supporters.
AfriForum, a gaggle that represents some white South African interests, welcomed his feedback. In May, its leaders went to the U.S. to lobby officers and establishments about Ramaphosa's proposal to expropriate land and the alleged concentrated on of white farmers.
Earlier this month the crowd posted a list of farms it mentioned have been earmarked for expropriation, a list the federal government mentioned is fake.
"Everyone in South Africa should ... hope that the pressure from the USA will lead to the (ruling party) reconsidering the disastrous route that they want to take South Africa on," AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel mentioned in a observation Thursday.
AfriForum and different critics say the federal government's proposal to expropriate land without compensation may just result in economic disaster, pointing to the collapse of the rural sector in neighboring Zimbabwe after the federal government of former President Robert Mugabe started seizing white-owned farms, every now and then violently, in 2000.
"We are going to take back the land and we'll do it by any means necessary," mentioned Lindsay Maasdorp, national spokesman for Black First Land First, a gaggle that condones land seizures in South Africa.
Proponents of South Africa's policy, together with Ramaphosa, say it will be important to handle historic injustices and can also be done in a way this is lawful and will not compromise the beleaguered financial system or meals security.
"It is absolutely unbelievable that a head of state at that level can be so disrespectful to issues of dispossession that South Africa is painfully trying to address in a democratic way," Vuyo Mahlati, president of the African Farmers' Association of South Africa, mentioned of Trump.
Later on Thursday in Washington, the State Department toned down Trump's language suggesting that massive land seizures have been underway. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert mentioned expropriating land without compensation "would risk sending South Africa down the wrong path," however she did not repeat the president's advice that large numbers of white South African farmers had been killed.
In parliament on Wednesday, Ramaphosa mentioned land expropriation may just make extra land to be had for cultivation, and that the method would start by seizing state-owned land, now not privately held land.
"This is our South Africa, this is our land, this is where we live," Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane informed South Africa's public broadcaster SABC. "Only solutions of land reform that are South African will work in South Africa."
Trump has never skilled apartheid and does not know its legacy of inequality in which the majority of South Africans own nothing, Zizi Kodwa, a member of the ruling party's national executive committee, informed The Associated Press.
"He is part of the right-wing lynch mob using the fear factor in order for us to maintain the status quo," Kodwa mentioned. "Donald Trump is a weapon of mass destruction."
South Africa blasts Trump over racially divisive tweet
![South Africa blasts Trump over racially divisive tweet]()
Reviewed by Kailash
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August 24, 2018
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