South African civil society organisations have accused US President Donald Trump of “dangerous lies”, following his statements that South Africa is “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly”.

The Campaign for Free Expression executive director Nicole Fritz said on Tuesday that Trump’s comments are “demonstrably untrue and would be absurd were this lie not now being propounded at the very highest levels of US government”.

Trump has threatened to cut all future funding to South Africa over the new Expropriation Act and claims that white farmers are being targeted.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law an Expropriation Act that allows land expropriation without compensation in certain circumstances.

The 19 civil society organisations – which include the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Corruption Watch, the Helen Suzman Foundation, the Land Access Movement of South Africa and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation – said they were “appalled” at the threats Trump issued against South Africa but also by his “dangerous lies”.

“We are unquestionably saddened that those we once took to be potential partners in this endeavour – to perfect our union as they looked to perfect theirs – should shamefully have abandoned that enterprise. But we are enraged that through thuggery and threat they would now look to deliberately endanger our endeavour,” they noted.

They explained that the recently promulgated Expropriation Act does not look to confiscate land but is an attempt to address historic dispossession and removal from land.

“It looks to secure a peaceful, prosperous future for all South Africans while respecting the rights of current property owners. Moreover, our Constitution and our courts have long been praised globally for their championing and protection of human rights and civil liberties. Such flaws as there may be with the Expropriation Act will be fully scrutinised by our court system, and if found wanting, struck down,” said the organisations.

The organisations said it was ironic that Trump compared himself to South Africa’s president Nelson Mandela, as the US president defended himself against criminal charges, stating that Mandela had previously stated that democracy in South Africa must mean addressing centuries of land dispossession and denial.

“Thirty years after democracy, South Africa remains among the most unequal places on earth with that inequality largely tracking racial lines: the typical Black household in South Africa owns 5% of the wealth held by the typical White household. For far too many South Africans democracy has yet to allow an escape from crippling poverty,” they said.

They further noted that Trump’s most significant funding contributed by the US to South Africa at present goes to healthcare-related initiatives and warned that funding cuts are likely to affect the most desperate, destitute South Africans.

“Trump’s actions will only make them more so and by potentially fuelling tensions between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in South Africa, may inadvertently threaten the interests of those ‘certain classes’ for whom Trump ostensibly seeks to act,” the organisations warned.