Rural Development and Land Reform Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, says South Africa must find its own solutions to its own problems.
She was reacting to a tweet sent out by American President, Donald Trump in which he instructs the Secretary of State to closely study what he calls South African land and farm seizures as well as farm killings.
Attending the Landbou Weekblad/AgriSA summit in Bela-Bela to find a solution to the land question, Nkoana-Mashabane says, “This is our South Africa, this is our land, this is where we live, only solutions of land reform that are South African will work in South Africa.
“Partnership in South Africa has helped us defeat Apartheid. It’s helped us sign off our Constitution. So this is our country. I’m a former Ambassador and former minister of International Relations, I know that only solutions that come from where we live work.”
Meanwhile, the ANC says Trump’s tweet on South Africa’s land policy is based on misinformation and is misleading.
The ANC’s Ronald Lamola says the ruling party is committed to expropriating land through constitutional means.
“Our view is that the tweet is not informed on the realities in South Africa. Crime doesn’t only affect white farmers in South Africa. It affects everyone. With regards to expropriation – all countries in the world use the expropriation instrument for various purposes for building for public interest. There is no country in the world that doesn’t use this instrument. And we have repeatedly said we are going to use this instrument through proper constitutional means.”
Trump tweet creates more racial polarisation
Deputy executive Director of Agri SA, Christo Van der Rheede says the tweet of American President, Donald Trump, creates more racial polarisation in South Africa as the facts in the tweet are inaccurate.
He says it creates the impression that South Africans cannot work together to find solutions for problems in the country.
” The American President should desist from assisting people from spreading this type of fake news. The south African government is not busy expropriating land, this is not happening. Agri SA together with farmers and government came together today to find a solution or try to resolve this problem and more so we are looking each other in the eye and to find the best way possible to not destroy what we have in this country but to add on to grow this economy.”
FF Plus thanks Trump for land tweet
Freedom Front Plus Chief Whip Corné Mulder has thanked United States President Donald Trump for instructing his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to closely study South Africa’s shifting land policy.
Thank you Pres Trump. It is the intention of the ANC government to steal property from whites under the term expropriation without compensation. We need your help.
— Corné_Mulder (@MulderCorn) August 23, 2018
Trump tweeted at the conclusion of a programme on cable channel Fox News on Wednesday which claimed that President Cyril Ramaphosa had begun seizing land from his citizens without compensating them for it because they are the wrong skin colour.Efforts to get hold of Mulder to confirm his comments in the tweet have thus far been unsuccessful.
Trump’s tweet comes just a day after Ramaphosa’s reply session in the National Assembly where he responded to questions on land expropriation; and a day after the Constitutional Review Committee meeting.
During the meeting, the United Democratic Movement raised questions about the citizenship and status of 775 written submissions made by individuals from countries abroad.
Meanwhile, AfriForum has welcomed Trump’s sentiments on land exportation in South Africa.
AfriForum deputy CEO Ernst Roets says the issue of farm murders is not getting the attention it deserves.
Watch Ernst Roets’ full interview on the video below:
