South Africa: AgriSA rejects Trump’s claims of ‘land confiscation’, warns of disinformation
AgriSA has slammed US President Donald Trump’s social media claim that South Africa is “confiscating land”, after tensions between Pretoria and Washington escalated this week.
AgriSA CEO Johann Kotzé on Friday stressed that no land confiscation has taken place. This follows the signing of the Expropriation Act on 23 January.
“To be clear, no seizures or confiscations of private property have taken place. Nor has any land been expropriated without compensation. Isolated cases of land grabs and trespassing have been dealt with. Additionally, rumours linking farm murders to the signing of the act are baseless and irresponsible. Farmers remain productive and committed to their operations,” he said.
He said the debacle over the act was negatively impacting the investment climate for South African agriculture.
The US targeted South Africa this week after Trump falsely claimed on his own social media platform, Truth Social, that South Africa was “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY”.
South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, now an influential figure in the Trump administration, accused SA of having “racist ownership laws”.
While delivering his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Cape Town on Thursday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa said SA would “not be bullied”.