Trump Confronts Ramaphosa In Oval Office With 'White Genocide' Claims: Watch
Trump confronted Ramaphosa with false claims of white genocide, derailing trade talks during a tense, conspiracy-fueled White House meeting.
In a highly tense Oval Office encounter on Wednesday, former U.S. President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with discredited claims of white genocide and land seizures in South Africa, overshadowing Ramaphosa’s intended focus on trade relations and diplomatic reset.
The meeting, which bore echoes of Trump’s controversial February clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, quickly turned combative as Trump launched into a well-rehearsed presentation of long-debunked allegations regarding the treatment of white South Africans.
“We have many people that feel they're being persecuted, and they're coming to the United States,” Trump said. “So we take from many ... locations, if we feel there's persecution or genocide going on,” he added, specifically referencing white farmers.
Ramaphosa arrived at the White House hoping to mend ties strained by Trump’s past decisions to cancel aid to South Africa, offer asylum to white Afrikaners, expel South Africa’s ambassador, and criticize the country’s genocide case against Israel. Accompanied by prominent white South Africans, including golf stars Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and billionaire Johann Rupert, Ramaphosa planned to discuss trade and mutual economic interests.
Instead, Trump led what observers described as a “carefully choreographed Oval Office onslaught.” With the lights dimmed, Trump played a video—unusually shown on a television brought into the Oval Office—depicting white crosses and inflammatory political speeches. The crosses, he claimed, marked graves of white farmers killed in South Africa. In fact, the footage was from a 2020 protest where the crosses symbolically represented farmer killings; they did not mark actual graves.
Trump also criticized South African opposition leader Julius Malema, suggesting he should be arrested for his rhetoric, and handed Ramaphosa a stack of printed news articles. “We have thousands of stories talking about it, and we have documentaries, we have news stories,” he insisted. “It has to be responded to.”
Ramaphosa remained composed throughout the tense exchange. When Trump claimed white farmers were being killed in droves, the South African leader countered: “If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you, these three gentlemen would not be here,” pointing to the white members of his delegation.
Despite Trump's insistence, crime statistics in South Africa tell a different story. South African police recorded 26,232 murders nationwide in 2024, with only 44 linked to farming communities—eight of whom were farmers. The vast majority of murder victims in the country are Black.
Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump’s portrayal: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about.” When Trump cut him off to state, “The farmers are not Black,” Ramaphosa calmly reaffirmed his stance, invoking Nelson Mandela’s legacy as a peacemaker.
Trump acknowledged the cruelty of apartheid but bizarrely added, “This is sort of the opposite of apartheid.”
Billionaire Johann Rupert intervened later in the meeting to support Ramaphosa’s position, noting that crime in South Africa affects everyone, regardless of race. He also endorsed Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite technology, suggesting it could help equip police stations to better fight crime.
Though the meeting was dominated by Trump’s controversial rhetoric, Ramaphosa steered the post-meeting narrative toward economic cooperation. He told reporters that the U.S. and South Africa had agreed to discuss partnerships around critical minerals, and South Africa had submitted a trade proposal that includes purchasing liquefied natural gas from the United States.
Still, Ramaphosa was unequivocal in rebutting Trump’s claims: “There is just no genocide in South Africa,” he stated firmly.
Top Headlines
