After watching a Tucker Carlson segment on Fox New
Post# of 65629
Donald J. Trump
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@realDonaldTrump
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
9:28 PM - Aug 22, 2018
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It’s unlikely Trump knows much about South Africa — he has yet to name an ambassador to the country ― but his claim is a favorite conspiracy theory among white nationalists and South African far-right groups, some of which have gained influence in the White House in recent months.
Far-right groups in South Africa ― and Tucker Carlson ― have seized on land reform proposals by South Africa’s parliament aimed at accelerating black ownership to claim the emergence of a white genocide by the country’s black majority. They warn that white farmers are not only at risk of losing their land but are also targeted for violence.
There is no evidence that this is happening. A government land audit released last year showed that white South Africans still own 72 percent of privately held farmland — an enduring effect of apartheid. And the claim that white farmers make up a disproportionate number of the country’s victims of violent crime is not backed by statistics. The State Department’s own human rights reports on South Africa makes no mention of white citizens being the targets of violence or land theft. Instead, it documents several instances of discrimination against black South Africans. But on Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert declined to disavow the notion that white people are under attack in South Africa. “The expropriation of land without compensation,” Nauert told reporters, “would risk sending South Africa down the wrong path.”