Posted on August 23, 2018

Trump Weighs In on South Africa Land Seizure Debate

Mark Moore, New York Post, August 23, 2018

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.”

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“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.

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