Democratic Alliance party leader John Steenhuisen says there's no genocide and mass expropriation of land taking place in the country

DA leader John Steenhuisen said President Cyril Ramaphosa's meet-up with US President Donald Trump would be a chance to clarify that "terrible things" are not happening in South Africa.

Steenhuisen stressed that this would be a moment to show that the country was not a picture that was painted to him by "some".

"There's no mass expropriation of land. There's no genocide taking place at all. I am very glad that the two presidents have spoken," he said.

Steenhuisen, who is also a Minister of Agriculture, spoke to IOL on Thursday on the sidelines of the official working visit to South Africa by Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced imminent talks with Trump to address critical US-South Africa relations.

"We both agreed to meet soon to address various matters regarding US-South Africa relations.

"We also spoke about the need to foster good relations between our two countries," he said.

READ MORE: South African leader talks with Trump after months of tension

Trump made a bold statement that terrible things were happening in South Africa.

This was after AfriForum and the Solidarity movement lied to Trump's administration that white people in South Africa were targeted by the government.

The government has dismissed the claims, labelling them as false and misleading information.

Trump has cut off aid to South Africa and recently introduced 30% tariffs for the country.

He offered refugee status to Afrikaners over fears of land expropriation and discrimination. But AfriForum turned down Trump's offer, saying they can't afford to leave their country.

Steenhuisen urged citizens to tread carefully and use the next 90-day period "very wisely and very cleverly" to be able to avoid the tariff increase.

First published by IOL