<p class="title">South Africa accused US President Donald Trump of fuelling racial tensions on Thursday after he said farmers were being forced off their land and many of them killed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump's tweet touched on the overwhelmingly white ownership of farmland in South Africa -- one of the most sensitive issues in the country's post-apartheid history.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past," said the government on an official Twitter account.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The foreign ministry said in a statement it would meet officials at the US embassy to challenge the "unfortunate comments," which were "based on false information".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu would also speak directly with her American opposite number, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump wrote overnight: "I have asked Secretary of State... Pompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large-scale killing of farmers."</p>.<p class="bodytext">His tweet apparently followed a segment on conservative Fox News about Pretoria's plan to change the constitution to speed up expropriation of land without compensation to redress racial imbalances in land ownership.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"'South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers'," said Trump's post, which tagged the show's host, Tucker Carlson, as well as the channel.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the clip, Carlson painted an apocalyptic picture of the situation accompanied by on-screen graphics warning of the "threat of violence and economic collapse".</p>.<p class="bodytext">President Cyril Ramaphosa, who faces elections in 2019, has claimed expropriating farms without compensating their owners would "undo a grave historical injustice" against the black majority during colonialism and the apartheid era. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Even though apartheid ended in 1994, the white community that makes up 8% of the population "possess 72% of farms" compared to "only four4%" in the hands of black people who make up four-fifths of the population, Ramaphosa said.</p>
<p class="title">South Africa accused US President Donald Trump of fuelling racial tensions on Thursday after he said farmers were being forced off their land and many of them killed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump's tweet touched on the overwhelmingly white ownership of farmland in South Africa -- one of the most sensitive issues in the country's post-apartheid history.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past," said the government on an official Twitter account.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The foreign ministry said in a statement it would meet officials at the US embassy to challenge the "unfortunate comments," which were "based on false information".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu would also speak directly with her American opposite number, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump wrote overnight: "I have asked Secretary of State... Pompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large-scale killing of farmers."</p>.<p class="bodytext">His tweet apparently followed a segment on conservative Fox News about Pretoria's plan to change the constitution to speed up expropriation of land without compensation to redress racial imbalances in land ownership.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"'South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers'," said Trump's post, which tagged the show's host, Tucker Carlson, as well as the channel.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the clip, Carlson painted an apocalyptic picture of the situation accompanied by on-screen graphics warning of the "threat of violence and economic collapse".</p>.<p class="bodytext">President Cyril Ramaphosa, who faces elections in 2019, has claimed expropriating farms without compensating their owners would "undo a grave historical injustice" against the black majority during colonialism and the apartheid era. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Even though apartheid ended in 1994, the white community that makes up 8% of the population "possess 72% of farms" compared to "only four4%" in the hands of black people who make up four-fifths of the population, Ramaphosa said.</p>