United States President Donald Trump confronted his South African counterpart, President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing South Africa of persecuting and killing white farmers during a live press conference in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Trump presented a video depicting a protest installation featuring numerous white crosses along a roadside, which he claimed were graves of murdered white farmers.
This was an attempt to support widely discredited allegations of a “white genocide” in South Africa.
Trump admitted he was unsure where the footage had been filmed in South Africa. In reality, the crosses were not actual graves but part of a 2020 protest in KwaZulu-Natal, following the killing of a farming couple.
Organisers at the time clarified that the display symbolised farmers killed over several years.
The meeting in the Oval Office began on a cordial note but took a turn when Trump requested the lights be dimmed for the video presentation.
The footage included a clip of prominent South African opposition leader Julius Malema singing: “Shoot the Boer, shoot the farmer.” It then cut to the field of crosses, which Trump narrated as a burial site for white farmers.
He also handed President Ramaphosa what appeared to be printed reports of attacks on white South Africans.
Trump said he would be seeking an “explanation” from Ramaphosa regarding the so-called white “genocide”, despite these claims having been repeatedly debunked. In response, Ramaphosa addressed the opposition chants heard in the video, saying:
What you saw – the speeches that were made… that is not government policy. We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves.
Our government policy is completely against what he [Malema] was saying even in the parliament and they are a small minority party, which is allowed to exist according to our constitution.
Ramaphosa highlighted the presence of white members within his delegation, including professional golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, as well as South Africa’s richest man, Johann Rupert. He said:
If there was a genocide, these three gentlemen would not be here.
Trump cut in, claiming that white farmers in South Africa were having their land taken and being killed without consequences. Ramaphosa firmly rejected the accusation.
The US President appeared to be referring to Julius Malema and his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, who are not part of the South African government and have no legal authority to seize land, despite their rhetoric.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that there was indeed “criminality in our country,” but stressed that “people who are killed through criminal activity are not only white— the majority are black.”
As Trump continued to press the issue, Ramaphosa remained composed. Attempting to lighten the mood, he made a joke about offering a plane to the United States.
He also invoked the legacy of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, reaffirming South Africa’s commitment to racial reconciliation.
When a journalist asked what would happen if white farmers were to leave South Africa, Ramaphosa deflected the question to his white agriculture minister, John Steenhuisen, who responded that most farmers had no intention of leaving.
The Oval Office meeting came just a week after the US granted asylum to nearly 60 Afrikaners—a move that drew sharp criticism from South Africa.
President Ramaphosa had travelled to Washington to reset relations between the two nations.
Ahead of the meeting, Ramaphosa had said that boosting trade ties with the United States was a top priority. South African exports currently face a 30% tariff once the pause on Trump’s import duties ends in July.
In a bid to make a favourable impression, Ramaphosa brought along two of South Africa’s most celebrated golfers, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and presented Trump with a lavish book showcasing the country’s golf courses.
The talks were held just days after 59 white South Africans arrived in the US and were granted refugee status. Ramaphosa, reacting at the time, had dismissed them as “cowards.”
More: BBC News
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