South Africa’s second biggest political party has launched a legal challenge against a new land expropriation law that was roundly criticized by U.S.

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.

The so-called land question has been a decades-long dilemma for South Africa. A new law seeks to right some of the wrongs of apartheid but has prompted claims from critics that it discriminates against White farmers.