The 47th US President Donald Trump accused South Africa on Sunday, February 2, of confiscating land. In response, AfriForum said it will beg Trump for mercy for ordinary South Africans, but it wants ANC leaders to be punished.
Trump claimed that the country was being discriminatory towards "certain classes of people" and added that he will be axing all future funding to the country, pending an investigation.
"So that's under investigation right now. We'll make a determination, and until such time as we find out what South Africa is doing. They're taking away land and confiscating land, and actually they're doing things that are perhaps far worse than that," he said in a media briefing.
AfriForum argued that Trump's proposed punitive actions against the nation should target senior ANC officials directly, rather than South African people.
The organisation went on to make an urgent request to the SA government, saying that in order to prevent a catastrophe, the government should propose a revision to the Expropriation Act that would secure the preservation of property rights in the nation.
According to Kallie Kriel, the chief executive of AfriForum, it has already warned President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC that signing the Expropriation Act and enforcing the country's existing racial laws will have a serious negative impact on investor confidence in SA.
Kriel went on to say that there are severe worries about the impact of Trump's punitive actions on regular individuals, who are already breaking under economic hardship.
"AfriForum’s position is and has always been that the foolish government and president should be punished for their destructive policies, rather than the county's citizens."
President Ramaphosa swiftly rejected Trump's accusations, saying that SA is constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality.
"The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution," said Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya.
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