Donald Trump was praised by former Klan leader David Duke on Wednesday for a tweet announcing that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would “closely study the South Africa land and farm seizure and large scale killing of farmers” after he watched a Tucker Carlson FOX News segment claiming the “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.”
The tweet was the first time Trump has used the word “Africa” in any tweet on the platform.
https://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/1032456387228561410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1032456387228561410&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fhomenews%2Fadministration%2F403210-david-duke-praises-trump-for-tweet-about-large-scale-killing-of-white
CNBC reports: “At the start of August, [President Cyril] Ramaphosa announced plans by the ruling African National Congress to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation. The government sees these changes as a way to boost the country's agricultural sector and economy. Opponents say it is a threat to food security and the economy. The bulk of South Africa‘s land is owned by its minority white population, a vestige of its colonial past, thus they are likely to be most affected by the changes…The notion that white farmers are persecuted in South Africa largely stems from a fringe group called AfriForum. Some far-right commentators and pundits have picked up on the idea, suggesting that there could be a “genocide” of white people in the country.”
VOX adds: ‘Trump is referring to a virulent, racist conspiracy theory that has been a pet cause of hardcore white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the alt-right for several years. More recently, Fox News's Tucker Carlson, one of the president's favorite conservative cable news pundits, has taken up the cause. The conspiracy theory is based on the very real — and very controversial — issue of post-Apartheid land reform in South Africa. But the white nationalists who propagate it have taken what is a genuinely thorny issue and magnified it beyond all objective fact, twisting it into what they see as a nightmare cautionary tale of “white genocide.”'
The South African government also bluntly responded to Trump's tweet: “South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past…South Africa will speed up the pace of land reform in a careful and inclusive manner that does not divide our nation.”
South Africa will speed up the pace of land reform in a careful and inclusive manner that does not divide our nation. #landexpropriation @realDonaldTrump @PresidencyZA
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) August 23, 2018
South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past. #landexpropriation @realDonaldTrump @PresidencyZA
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) August 23, 2018
