Dear @POTUS AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT I'd like to refer you to the case of Akkerland where the South African government seized its first white-owned farm (a vast hunting reserve), from Johan Steenkamp and Arnold Cloete, co-owners of the Akkerland Boerdery hunting farm in the Limpopo province. They were ordered to hand over their land after talks to buy it at a 10th of the price broke down. Cyril Ramaphosa, told a farmers' conference shortly after that "land reform" was necessary to "correct a past wrong". Steenkamp and Cloete asked for 200 million rands ($20.8m) for their reserve but were only offered 20m rands ($2.08m). A letter sent to the company earlier in that year said: "Notice is hereby given that a terrain inspection will be held on the farms on April 5, 2018, at 10am to conduct an audit of the assets and a handover of the farm's keys to the state." The farm took out an urgent injunction to prevent eviction but the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs refused his application. Steenkamp said that the decision was made on "very short notice" during a public holiday. He said he was given notice to hand the keys over to his farm within seven days. IMPORTANT: What makes the Akkerland case unique is that they were not allowed to first dispute the claim in court, as the law requires. Do not let them tell you farms are not being seized. Investigate the Akkerland case. There were allegations the mining corporation Coal of Africa may be behind the expropriation action, and that this has nothing to do with historical land reform, and everything to do with mining. This story featured worldwide: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6… citizen.co.za/network-news/l… @elonmusk @twatterbaas
