South Africa's MK party has filed a criminal complaint of treason against a group lobbying for the white Afrikaner minority after Donald Trump cut aid to the country. The party accused it of spreading misinformation about a land reform law to influence the U.S. president. - REUTERS
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00:00South Africa's MK party filed a treason complaint on Monday against a group championing the
00:06white Afrikaner minority after Donald Trump attacked South Africa's new law aimed at redistributing
00:12white-owned land and signed an executive order last week cutting financial aid.
00:17The group, AfriForum, has lobbied against the land law in U.S. media and political circles,
00:23portraying it as part of a wider onslaught against Afrikaners.
00:28In a criminal complaint, MK, the party of ex-president Jacob Zuma, accused AfriForum
00:33of spreading misinformation to influence the U.S. president.
00:38Supporters sang anti-apartheid songs outside Cape Town's Central Police Station.
00:42MK parliamentary leader John Kloppe.
00:45First of all, they lied and said their farms have been confiscated and there have been
00:50killings and their land was confiscated, which is not true to begin with.
00:56So based on that lies, those fraudulent misrepresentations, Trump decided to issue an executive order
01:05against South Africa.
01:08AfriForum's CEO, Callie Creel, said in a statement the accusation of treason was absurd.
01:14The Trump administration said the United States would welcome Afrikaners as refugees, lending
01:19credence to AfriForum's complaint that they're being persecuted.
01:23This is disputed by the South African government and most political parties.
01:28The government has defended the land reform law as an attempt to rectify the injustices
01:32of the past and has pointed out that no expropriations have yet taken place under the law.
01:38White farmers own three quarters of South Africa's privately held land, while white
01:41people make up eight percent of the population.
01:45Trump's criticism has exacerbated stark divisions on racial issues that persist in South Africa
01:5030 years after the end of apartheid, partly because of yawning economic inequality between
01:56racial groups.