"WASHINGTON -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa came to Washington seeking what he called a reset in relations with the U.S., but his meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday devolved into a tense exchange over perceived threats to white farmers in South Africa.
Trump has made unsubstantiated claims that white South Africans were the victims of a possible genocide. During a lengthy back-and-forth in front of television cameras, he suggested Ramaphosa's government wasn't doing enough to protect them.
"We have many people that feel they're being persecuted, and they're coming to the United States," Trump said. "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."
Trump asked an aide to dim the lights in the Oval Office so he could play a video showing footage of opposition politician Julius Malema calling for violence against white farmers. "Now, this is very bad," Trump said, describing the video. "These are people that are officials and they're saying kill the white farmer and take their land."
Ramaphosa, who helped negotiate the end of apartheid and establish South Africa's democracy in the 1990s, had said before the meeting that he hoped to correct Trump's view of what is happening in South Africa. Although South Africa is one of the world's most violent countries, Black people there are murdered at higher rates than whites. There is no evidence murders of white farmers in the country amount [1] to a genocide.
"What you saw in the speeches that were being made -- that is not government policy. We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves," Ramaphosa said. "Our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying."
Ramaphosa evoked former South African President Nelson Mandela several times during the meeting and said he wanted to talk about the farmers but also "trade matters, investment matters."
Trump said that apartheid was "terrible," but that white South Africans were facing a new threat that he described as "the opposite of apartheid."
Asked by a reporter if he had made up his mind about whether genocide was occurring, Trump said he hadn't. Earlier in the meeting, Trump said of South Africa, "We have many people that feel they're being persecuted and they're coming to the United States. So we take from many, many locations, if we feel there is persecution or genocide going on." During an event at the White House this month, Trump said a genocide was taking place in South Africa.
Wednesday's meeting wasn't entirely acrimonious: the two men discussed the coming Group of 20 meeting in South Africa, and Ramaphosa brought as a gift a book illustrating the country's golf courses.
But Trump's surprise video presentation and the stack of news clippings he handed to Ramaphosa as evidence of his claims were at times reminiscent of his testy Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has stopped foreign aid to South Africa and invited Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch, German and other settlers, to immigrate to the U.S. as refugees and become fast-track citizens. The first group of several dozen Afrikaners arrived for resettlement this month.
Elon Musk, the South Africa-born billionaire and Trump ally, was also present at the Oval Office meeting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February skipped a G-20 foreign ministers meeting in South Africa, citing what he called the government's anti-Americanism. Trump set 30% reciprocal tariffs on South Africa in April, then paused them for 90 days." [2]
1. Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people based on their national, ethnic, racial, or religious identity.
It is a crime against humanity and a legal term under international law. The term was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, to describe the systematic destruction of national and ethnic groups by Nazi Germany, particularly the Holocaust.
Key aspects of genocide include:
Intent to Destroy:
The acts must be committed with the specific intent to destroy the group in whole or in part.
Systematic Destruction:
The actions are often planned and coordinated, not just random acts of violence.
Targeted Group:
The victims are identified and targeted based on their group affiliation.
Acts of Violence:
Genocide often involves mass murder, but can also include other acts like torture, persecution, and cultural destruction.
The United Nations Genocide Convention defines genocide as:
Killing members of the group
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Destroying the group's physical, cultural, or social identity
The Convention also requires states to prevent and punish genocide. The United Nations Genocide Convention defines genocide in international law.
2. World News: South Africa Leader, Trump Clash on 'Genocide' Claims. McGraw, Meridith; Wexler, Alexandra. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 22 May 2025: A7.
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