US President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday with explosive false claims of white ‘genocide’ and unfair land seizures during a tense White House meeting that was reminiscent of his February ambush of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Murder rates are high in South Africa, but the overwhelming majority of victims are Black.
Ramaphosa arrived prepared for an aggressive reception, bringing popular white South African golfers as part of his delegation and saying he wanted to discuss trade.
But in a carefully choreographed Oval Office onslaught, Trump pounced, moving quickly to a list of concerns about the treatment of whites, which he punctuated by playing a video and leafing through a stack of printed news articles that he said proved his allegations.
“We have many people that feel they’re being persecuted, and they’re coming to the United States. So we take from many ... locations, if we feel there’s persecution or genocide going on,” Trump said, referring specifically to white farmers.
“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they’re being killed.”
South Africa, which endured centuries of draconian discrimination against Black people during colonialism and apartheid before becoming a multi-party democracy in 1994 under Nelson Mandela, rejects Trump’s allegations.
A new land reform law, aimed at redressing the injustices of apartheid, allows for expropriations without compensation when in the public interest, for example if land is lying fallow. No such expropriation has taken place, and any order can be challenged in court.
Ramaphosa, sitting in a chair next to Trump and remaining poised, pushed back against his claims.
“If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you, these three gentleman would not be here,” Ramaphosa said, referring to golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and billionaire Johann Rupert, who were present in the room.
That did not satisfy Trump.
“We have thousands of stories talking about it, and we have documentaries, we have news stories,” Trump said before directing that the video be played. “It has to be responded to.”
Unlike Zelenskiy, who sparred with Trump and Vice President JD Vance during their White House meeting and ended up leaving early, the South African leader kept his calm, praising Trump’s decor – the president has outfitted the Oval Office with gold accessories – and saying he looked forward to handing over the presidency of the Group of 20 next year.
The United States is South Africa’s second-biggest bilateral trading partner after China. But the country is facing a 30 per cent tariff under Trump’s currently suspended ‘Liberation Day’ regime, and Ramaphosa was keen to discuss a trade deal and business opportunities.
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