South Africa's second biggest political party launched a legal challenge Monday against a new land expropriation law that was roundly criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump as a rights violation against a white minority and prompted him to cut all funding to the country.

A law that allows the government to confiscate land has reignited racial tensions that have dogged Africa's southernmost tip ever since European settlers began arriving nearly four centuries ago.

A legal challenge against a controversial new land seizure law at the centre of a row with US President Donald Trump has been filed by the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is part of South Africa's coalition government.