JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A court case opened Monday challenging South Africa’s controversial new law that allows the government to seize private land, which has been at the heart of strained relations with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The government denies this, and says the law will be aimed at making unused land productive. Lawyers for the groups argued Monday that the law violates the South African Constitution’s protections of private property and prohibitions of expropriation of land without compensation. The law allows the South African government to expropriate land from private parties if it’s in the public interest, and it allows for expropriation without compensation if negotiations for a reasonable settlement have failed. The government says the law does not allow land to be taken arbitrarily.