Durban - US President Donald Trump's early morning tweet ordering his secretary of state to look into South Africa's land seizures from "white farmers" and "large-scale farm murders" came after watching the popular Fox News show, Tucker Carlson Tonight which during the segment called the South African government racist.
The show which has a large following in the US often rails against liberals, media elites and Barack Obama.
On the show on Wednesday night, Carlson tells his viewers that they have an "exclusive investigation".
"The president of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa has begun and you may have seen this in the press seizing land from his own citizens without compensation because they are the wrong skin colour," Carlson said.
"That is literally the definition of racism. Racism is what our elite say they dislike most. 'Donald Trump is a racist' they say but they paid no attention to this at all. In fact, Ramaphosa is one of Barack Obama's favourite leaders in the world. In a speech just a few weeks ago, Obama praised him, he praised the racist government of South Africa and Ramaphosa by name for quote 'inspiring hope throughout the country.' Does our current bureaucratic elite agree with that? Apparently, they do".
Carlson adds: "So that's a tragedy, you just heard that. Keep in mind our State Department right now supports race-based land seizures. We hope that policy changes"
The US State Department responded to Carlson with a statement saying that it had been following South Africa's land reform closely for some time.
"South Africa is a strong democracy with resilient institutions, including a free press and an independent judiciary. South Africans are grappling with the difficult issue of land reform through an open process including public hearings, broad-based consultations and active civil society engagement. President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged that the land reform process will follow the rule of law and its implementation will not adversely affect economic growth agricultural production or food security".
I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews