The South African government has announced that it will start a process of briefing South African-based US companies on the land reform programme.

This was one of the resolutions reached following a bilateral meeting between the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) minister Lindiwe Sisulu and the United States Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, on Friday (28 September) in New York.

“The Minister emphasised that the land reform and agrarian reform process will be undertaken within the framework of the Constitution and implemented in a manner that does not affect economic stability and food stability,” Dirco said in a statement.

“In this regard, the two Ministers agreed to convene a meeting of all South African based US companies to brief them about the land reform process.”

In August, US president Donald Trump asked Pompeo to study the seizure and expropriation of land in South Africa – along with the killing of farmers.

In a note posted on Twitter, Trump alleged that the South African government was ‘seizing land from white farmers’.

Government is proposing a review of Section 25 of the Constitution, which will pave the way for the expropriation of land without compensation due to the fact that despite the country being 23 years into democracy, many South Africans remain dispossessed of land.

The review has been met with mixed emotions, but government has maintained that the expropriation of land without compensation will ensure land is equitably distributed according to need, boost agricultural production and food security, while promoting economic transformation.

Tariffs

The meeting between Sisulu and Pompeo also touched on the steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the US.

In May, US President Donald Trump signed proclamations imposing a 10% ad valorem tariff on imports of aluminium articles and a 25% ad valorem tariff on imports of steel articles.

South Africa was not exempted in the application of steel and aluminium duties.

South Africa’s steel exports to the US amounted to $950 million in 2017 and accounted for 1.4% of the US’s global imports. In the case of aluminium, South African exports were at $375 million in 2017, accounting for 1.6% of US imports from all global suppliers.

In the meeting, Sisulu reiterated South Africa’s call for its exemption from the tariffs.

According to Dirco, the two ministers used the occasion to also review the state of bilateral relations between South Africa and the United States, and exchanged views on African and global peace and security issues.

“They expressed satisfaction with the scope and depth of co-operation between the two countries in a wide range of issues, covering political-diplomatic, economic-social, technical, scientific as well as people-to-people co-operation,” it said.

Read: Trump asks his secretary of state to study land expropriation and ‘farm killings’ in South Africa