--- title: South Africa Says Trump Is 'Misinformed' About Land Seizures description: Land seizures in South Africa were on President Donald Trump's agenda after a Fox News segment called out Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canonical: https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/ author: Laignee Barron article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-23T08:54:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:00.143Z article:section: Politics og:title: South Africa Says Trump Is 'Misinformed' About Land Seizures og:description: Trump told the State Dept. to study South African land redistribution after a Fox News segment og:url: https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a51b01fd6d69f99/698938797cdbac73c7d5dbed/gettyimages-1017727098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5651 og:image:height: 3179 og:image:alt: President Trump Hosts A Cabinet Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: South Africa Says Trump Is 'Misinformed' About Land Seizures twitter:description: Trump told the State Dept. to study South African land redistribution after a Fox News segment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a51b01fd6d69f99/698938797cdbac73c7d5dbed/gettyimages-1017727098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # South Africa Says President Trump Is 'Misinformed' About Land Seizures Following Tweet > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Cyril Ramaphosa Set to be South Africa's New President [Watch (HLS stream): Cyril Ramaphosa Set to be South Africa's New President](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BCoKZhDo.m3u8) (1:57)  _Published 2018-02-15. Acting president Cyril Ramaphosa looks set to become South Africa’s new president Thursday afternoon in an electoral formality_ by [Laignee Barron](https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Aug 23, 2018 8:54 AM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting in the White House on Aug. 16, 2018. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting in the White House on Aug. 16, 2018. Oliver Contreras—Getty Images by [Laignee Barron](https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Aug 23, 2018 8:54 AM UTC Land rights in South Africa were on President Donald Trump’s agenda Wednesday night shortly after Fox News aired a segment on the country’s plans to redistribute land amid persisting racial disparities. President Trump said he has asked the State Department to look into the matter. “I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and large scale killing of farmers,” he wrote on Twitter. The tweet appears to be in response to the segment as he tagged both Carlson and Fox News. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032454567152246785) Earlier this month, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa [announced](https://ewn.co.za/2018/08/01/anc-to-amend-constitution-to-allow-land-expropriation) that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) intends on changing the constitution to allow the government to repossess land without offering compensation. The move aims to address racial inequalities, as white residents continue to own most of South Africa’s land more than two decades after the end of apartheid. In response to Trump’s tweet, a spokesperson for Ramaphosa said Trump was “misinformed” and that the country would be seeking clarification from the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, Reuters [reports](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-usa-land/trump-says-wants-pompeo-to-closely-study-safrican-land-seizures-farm-killings-idUSKCN1L808P). “South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past,” [read](https://twitter.com/GovernmentZA/status/1032507810460909568) a tweet from the official Twitter account of the South African government posted Thursday. “South Africa will speed up the pace of land reform in a careful and inclusive manner that does not divide our nation.” > [](https://twitter.com/GovernmentZA/status/1032507810460909568) The State Department has not yet commented on the President’s tweet, but in a statement that ran on the Fox News segment it said that, “We are aware of these reports and have been following this issue very closely for some time.” “South Africans are dealing with the difficult issue of land reform through an open process including public hearings, broad-based consultations, and active civil society engagement,” the statement said. Since 1994, South Africa has been working to redress land dispossession that occurred during and before apartheid. Through what is termed a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” approach, the government buys up land from white farmers to redistribute to black residents, Reuters [reports](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-usa-land/trump-says-wants-pompeo-to-closely-study-safrican-land-seizures-farm-killings-idUSKCN1L808P). While the ANC government had aimed to return 30% of land this way, some estimates suggest just [10% of commercial farmland](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44278164) has been redistributed, according to the BBC. The state-owned Land and Agricultural Bank [estimates](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-20/s-africa-s-land-bank-warns-expropriation-could-trigger-default) the ANC’s expropriation plan could wind up costing the government as much as $2.8 billion in default payments. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/"},"headline":"South Africa Says President Trump Is 'Misinformed' About Land Seizures Following Tweet","datePublished":"2018-08-23T08:54:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:00.143Z","description":"His tweeted instructions came in response to a Fox News segment on the issue","url":"https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/","keywords":["White House","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a51b01fd6d69f99/698938797cdbac73c7d5dbed/gettyimages-1017727098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laignee Barron","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a51b01fd6d69f99/698938797cdbac73c7d5dbed/gettyimages-1017727098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Hosts A Cabinet Meeting","caption":"President Trump Hosts A Cabinet Meeting","creditText":"Oliver Contreras—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/","name":"South Africa Says President Trump Is 'Misinformed' About Land Seizures Following Tweet"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Cyril Ramaphosa Set to be South Africa's New President","description":"Acting president Cyril Ramaphosa looks set to become South Africa’s new president Thursday afternoon in an electoral formality","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BCoKZhDo/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-02-15T18:12:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BCoKZhDo.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/","duration":"PT1M57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5375564/trump-pompeo-south-africa-land-seizures/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```