By Francois Wilken
President, Free State Agriculture
Free State Agriculture welcomes the support pledged to the agricultural sector this week by President Trump.
According to Francois Wilken, President of Free State Agriculture, the organisation is encouraged that the US government has heeded the pleas of South African farmers and acknowledged that farmers’ safety and property rights are under threat from the ANC-led government.
The claim that President Trump and Secretary Rubio “falsely alleged this week that authorities in South Africa are confiscating private property” is itself incorrect.
While confiscation may culminate in actual land expropriation, the process begins with policies and legislation that erode or weaken established property rights.
The fact remains that South Africa’s new Expropriation Act enables state bodies to expropriate land and other assets without paying market-related compensation.
The terminology used by Mr Trump and Mr Rubio is therefore accurate, even if specific parcels of land in South Africa have not yet been expropriated.
“As an agricultural organisation, Free State Agriculture stands ready to accept any assistance and support for the farming sector and our farmers.
Particularly when help is offered by the United States and President Donald Trump, we should welcome it.
Furthermore, we are also willing to collaborate locally with any individual or organisation that can help ensure the safety, property rights, and future of our farmers,” Wilken said.
President Trump’s announcement that farmers and Afrikaners will henceforth be eligible for refugee status in the United States serves as a wake-up call for the government, agricultural organisations, and all communities in South Africa.
Farm murders and rural security have been a reality for more than 30 years, yet none of our efforts to prompt action from the ANC government have yielded lasting results.
We remain defenceless against criminals who have been stealing our livestock and plundering large portions of our crops for decades, while the police are unable to assist us.
For 30 years, farmers have been targeted by radical left-wing politicians who have incited their supporters against farmers and the agricultural sector through hate speech.
For three decades, these problems have been denied, dismissed, and ignored by a political elite that has stripped our country bare and forsaken the rural economy.
Now, not only our possessions but also our economic survival are at risk due to the new Expropriation Act.
Although land has not yet been confiscated by the state, the Expropriation Act enables the government to seize any property – land, money, houses, vehicles, and more.
Therefore, the government’s assurances that assets will not be confiscated are simply not credible.
Free State Agriculture stands ready and awaits the opportunity to see how South African farmers and the United States can forge a constructive path forward to secure our future and that of South Africa.