AfriForum welcomes Pres. Trump’s announcement that the USA will investigate expropriation in SA

23 August 2018

The civil rights organisation AfriForum welcomed American president Donald Trump’s announcement on Twitter that he had requested Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, to thoroughly investigate the illegal occupation of land and farms, expropriation as well as the widespread murder of farmers in South Africa.

Trump’s announcement follows only three months after AfriForum sent a delegation to the USA to inform the Cato Institute (a prominent American think tank), Tucker Carlson (Presenter of Fox News) and various other institutions and politicians of the situation in this regard in South Africa.

Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, thanked the Cato Institute, Tucker Carlson and every other role-player in the USA that took a stand to make the ANC’s plans to amend the South African Constitution to enable expropriation without compensation, as well as the farm murder crisis in SA, part of America’s public agenda.

According to Kriel, his organisation has no other choice but to garner international support against expropriation without compensation, as the ANC officially announced that the party had decided to amend the Constitution to enable expropriation without compensation – even before the public participation process had been concluded. “The ANC’s decision, as announced by Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa himself, has made a farce of the local participation processes and that is why AfriForum is, as a last resort, continuing to mobilise international pressure for the protection of property rights in South Africa.”

Kriel indicated that Pres. Trump’s announcement is not only good news for property owners in SA, but for everyone in the country. “Venezuela, with a poverty rate of 90%, and Zimbabwe, with an unemployment rate of 90%, are examples that prove that the disregard of property rights ruins a country’s economy to the detriment of everyone in the country. Everyone in SA should therefore hope that the pressure from the USA will lead to the ANC reconsidering the disastrous route that they want to take SA on,” Kriel added.

The ANC’s continued denial of the fact that farm murders, which are proportionally significantly higher than SA’s average murder rate, is a unique crisis that requires specific attention, compelled AfriForum to also bring the farm murder crisis under the international community’s attention.

Kriel indicated that, in the light of Trump’s instruction to the Secretary of State to investigate expropriation without compensation and farm murders, AfriForum is ready to provide additional information regarding the matter to the American government.

AfriForum will intensify its campaign to inform the international community regarding the threat to property rights and farm murders in SA.

Issued by Natasha Venter, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 23 August 2018