Unless South Africa gets turned into a golf-course-come-fraudulent-university, we’re not sure that Jason Bartlett’s campaign to raise international awareness on the subject of farm murders will really grab the US president’s Trump attention. But in the eyes of this outspoken Christian, God loves a trier.

Who is Jason Bartlett?

Bartlett is a South African national living in the US. His Twitter page is pretty much everything you’d come to expect. It is littered with articles relating to farm murders in South Africa, and expresses plenty of sentiment opposing the idea of land expropriation without compensation. And yes, he’s a big fan of The Donald.

The route Jason Bartlett intends to take – Photo: Google Maps

The controversial figure is planning to start his walk from Austin, Texas on New Year’s Day (Wednesday). From there, he will negotiate an unforgiving 2 500km walk to the White House in Washington DC. He plans to complete the 500-hour grueller by making his point to the president right outside the famous landmark.

The time has come @realDonaldTrump to #KAG2020 and to stop the brutal killings of farmers in South Africa #FarmMurders The #buffaloboerwalk from Austin,TX to the @WhiteHouse 1 January 2020 #kag pic.twitter.com/g3CUTrjRpD — Jason Bartlett (@buffalobartlett) December 29, 2019

Donald Trump: Land expropriation in South Africa, and the US?

The spectre of land redistribution in South Africa has spooked plenty of farmers, despite repeated assurances from the government and agricultural bodies that no businesses are at risk. The sensitive topic has dominated the discourse in Mzansi for the last two years, even drawing an infamous Tweet from Trump himself.

POTUS may have been quick to condemn what he perceived as “land seizures” on these shores – but it hasn’t stopped his administration looking to implement an almost-identical policy.

Farm murder protest in the US

As MSNBC reported this week, the US government plans to take private land for the president’s border wall, and now Texas landowners “fear losing property that could become part of Mexico in the process”. It’s one thing to expropriate land, but to annex it in another country. It’s not exactly something you’d find in Art of the Deal, is it?

Maybe we should return the favour. One of us should walk from Cape Town to Pretoria, memorandum in hand, and ask the South African government to stop land seizures in the US. We wish Jason all the best in his efforts, and regardless of the cause, a 500-hour walk would even put The Proclaimers to shame.