On Wednesday, President Donald Trump surprised South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office by playing a video.
Trump claimed the video proved that genocide was being committed against white people in South Africa, forcing farmers to seek refuge in the United States.
This unexpected move transformed the typically formal diplomatic setting into a platform for Trump’s assertion of white South African persecution.
With media present and Ramaphosa struggling to interject, Trump instructed staff to display the video on a large screen, alleging it showed Black South Africans discussing genocide.
Trump stated, “They’re white farmers, and they’re fleeing South Africa, and it’s a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don’t want that.”
Ramaphosa repeatedly attempted to speak but was often cut off.
At one point, he appealed for a calm discussion, saying, “We were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems, people need to sit down around the table and talk about them. And this is precisely what we would also like to talk about.”
The South African leader’s visit was intended to mend relations following previous unsubstantiated genocide claims by Trump and his ally, South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who was also present in the Oval Office.
Ramaphosa explicitly stated, “We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa.”
He arrived at the White House with notable South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and the country’s wealthiest man, Johann Rupert, seemingly to appeal to the golf-loving US president.
The presence of these three high-profile Afrikaners in Ramaphosa’s delegation comes days after approximately 50 Afrikaners arrived in the United States to accept Trump’s offer of “refuge,” an offer made despite Trump’s broader crackdown on migration and halted asylum seeker arrivals from most other regions.
Reports also indicated that the South African government was prepared to offer Musk a deal to operate his Starlink satellite internet network in the country. Musk has previously accused Pretoria of having “openly racist” laws, referring to post-apartheid Black empowerment policies that have complicated Starlink’s licensing.
Trump’s administration has criticized a range of South African policies since his second term began.
It has slammed South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, cut foreign aid, imposed 31 percent tariffs, and expelled Pretoria’s ambassador after he criticized Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
However, the most significant point of contention for Trump and his team has been a South African land expropriation law signed in January.
This law aims to address the historical inequalities of white minority rule, where most farmland remains owned by white people, despite them comprising only 7.3 percent of the population.
Musk, who has been instrumental in Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), criticized these land laws at the Qatar Economic forum on Tuesday, asking, “Why are there racist laws in South Africa?”
Ramaphosa has denied Washington’s assertion that the law will lead to arbitrary confiscation of white-owned land.
Right-wing Afrikaner lobby groups have claimed that Afrikaans farmers are being murdered in targeted killings, but authorities maintain these claims are unfounded.
According to police figures, most victims of South Africa’s high murder rate are young Black men in urban areas.
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