President Trump has ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to closely monitor the situation in South Africa, where the government has begun seizing land from white South African farmers to make reparations to Black citizens.
The threat of anarchy became real in parts of South African after President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the go ahead to seize farmland from white farmers and redistribute the assets to Black South Africans.
In some instances, farmers who resist are being massacred.
Ramaphosa said the illegal seizures were necessary to “correct a past wrong,” according to the Daily Mail UK.
On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted about the potential for genocide of white people in South Africa:
“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. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews”.
Some American farmers shared their concerns about similar action occurring here in America.
A post-Apartheid amendment to South Africa’s constitution allowed for the voluntary sale of farmland and assets with proceeds to be distributed to Black citizens. But, since 2007, only 23 farmers willingly gave up their land.
Ramaphosa decided to speed up the process by forcibly evicting farmers from their land and seizing their farms. He targeted 130 farms and allowed the courts to determine what would be a “just and equitable” compensation to the farmers.
More than 30 farmers filed appeals with the court to temporarily halt the seizure of their farms. They requested 10 times more compensation than what the government is willing to give them.
A record number of farms have now been put up for sale before seizures can occur.
In 2017, farmers organized a Black Monday rally to protest the high murder rate of white farmers.
“That means a farmer is three times more likely to be murdered in South Africa than a police officer in this country,” said organizer Ian Cameron. “So farmers have by far the most dangerous job of all people in this country, at the moment. We cannot allow this to continue the way it is.”
Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas – WPA Pool/Getty Images
