BACKLASH

South African Farmers to Trump: ‘Leave Us the Hell Alone’

The U.S. president’s claims of white farmers being persecuted were reportedly met with scorn at a summit of farmers.

President Trump’s controversial tweet calling for the State Department to review the supposed persecution of white farmers in South Africa has reportedly prompted a backlash from South African farmers. The topic took center stage at a land summit attended by farmers and South African officials this weekend, according to Agence France-Presse. “I think Donald Trump must really take his long hair... and leave our people the hell alone,” one South African farmer, Preline Swart, was quoted as saying. She added that the American president “just wants something new to talk about.” “He doesn't understand the South Africa situation. We have to inform him, we have to invite him to visit us,” said Andre Smith, another farmer. The South African government has also condemned Trump’s comments as “alarmist, false, inaccurate, and misinformed.” His comments, which were widely read as a nod to white supremacist claims that whites are being persecuted in South Africa, came in response to the South African government’s plans to redistribute land to correct a racial imbalance left over from apartheid.