The controversial white farmland redistribution bill has been withdrawn by South Africa after Donald Trump’s warning that he’ll look into it.
The white redistribution bill sought to equalize land ownership between black South Africans and White South Africans by collecting land from White owners without compensation.
The bill proposed to change the existing law on the matter which currently stipulates that the South African government is allowed to compulsorily obtain land from white owners but only on the condition that they pay a reasonable compensation to the owners of the land.
Things had gotten a little out of hand as there were reports that the bill which was not law yet was already being effected in some parts of South Africa, this has been disputed by the government who state that such a thing hasn’t happened.
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Donald Trump spoke out against the proposed law by South Africa stating in a tweet: ‘I have asked Secretary of State… (Mike) Pompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers,’
He added: ‘South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers’
This claim angered the South African government who responded to Trump’s claim stating that his words were ‘alarmist, false, inaccurate and misinformed’
Tensions have been high in South Africa in the middle of all this with South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, claiming that the white community that makes up eight percent of the population ‘possess 72 percent of farms’.
Conversely, black South Africans own only 4 percent of farmland in South Africa even though they make up about 80 percent of the population
The reason for this imbalance is enshrined in the Apartheid period where White people seized land from Black people forcefully.
The White farmland redistribution bill was introduced to straighten this injustice, but it has increased fears among some farm owners who said that they already face heightened violence due to their identity as white farm owners.
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