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South Africa’s third largest political party has accused a group championing the White Afrikaner minority of treason after US president Donald Trump attacked the country’s new law aimed at redistributing White-owned land.
MK, the party of South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma, filed a treason complaint on Monday to Cape Town’s central police station against AfriForum, which has been lobbying against the redistribution law in US media and political circles. Mr Zuma’s party accused the group of spreading misinformation to influence Mr Trump.
The US president last week signed an executive order cutting financial assistance to South Africa, citing the land expropriation act.
The Trump administration said Afrikaners, the descendants of predominantly Dutch 17th century settlers, could come to the United States as refugees, lending credence to AfriForum’s complaint that they are being persecuted, which is disputed by the South African government and most political parties.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has also attacked the South African government for the expropriation act, accusing them of pushing “openly racist ownership laws”.
The government has defended the land reform law as an attempt to rectify the injustices of the past and has pushed back against what it says is misinformation, pointing out that no expropriations have yet taken place under the law.
White farmers own three quarters of South Africa’s privately held land, while white people make up eight per cent of the population.
Mr Trump’s criticism has exacerbated stark divisions on racial issues that persist in South Africa 30 years after the end of apartheid, partly because of yawning inequality between racial groups.
MK is a populist opposition party that strongly advocates land redistribution and rose quickly to come third in last year’s general elections, taking significant support away from the ruling African National Congress, which lost its majority.
“Treason has been committed, we contend, by them, because they are plotting against our government,” said John Hlophe, the party’s parliamentary leader, just after filing the complaint.
“Based on those lies, those fraudulent misrepresentations, Trump decided to issue an executive order against South Africa,” he told reporters.
AfriForum’s CEO Kallie Kriel said the accusation of treason was absurd. “It is the duty of civil society … to put the spotlight on legislation and actions that threaten the welfare of citizens and the country,” he said in a statement.
A decision on whether to prosecute AfriForum for treason will rest with the National Prosecuting Authority, which acts based on evidence presented by the police.
The ruling ANC last week also blamed AfriForum for Trump’s actions, though it has not taken legal action against the group.
The expropriation act empowers the government to seize land owned by white farmers, in rare cases without compensation, in order to redistribute it to poor Blacks.
AfriForum rejects the law as an assault on property rights and has been campaigning actively for years in the United States against South African land reform efforts.
