Right-wing narrative in the Oval Office Trump lectures South Africa's president about "genocide" of white South Africans
South Africa's President Ramaphosa tries to woo Trump during his visit to the White House. But the US President surprises his guest with an unusual presentation.
22.05.2025, 04:02
22.05.2025, 06:47
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- During South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the White House, US President Donald Trump publicly showed up his counterpart.
- During a meeting in the Oval Office, Trump bombarded his guest with unsubstantiated accusations that South Africa was committing "genocide" against white farmers.
- Surprisingly, he even had video footage shown to back up his unsubstantiated genocide accusations.
- Ramaphosa repeatedly tried to ease the situation and ensnare Trump.
During South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the White House, US President Donald Trump publicly showed up his counterpart. During a meeting in the Oval Office, Trump bombarded his guest with unsubstantiated accusations that South Africa was committing "genocide" against white farmers.
Surprisingly, he even had video footage shown to back up his genocide accusations. Ramaphosa repeatedly tried to ease the situation and ensnare Trump. The charm offensive was at least partially effective: the US president kept his options open to possibly attending the G20 summit in South Africa in November after all.
Trump accusations against South Africa
Relations between the two countries have recently been very tense - mainly due to Trump's "genocide" accusations against South Africa. The US President complains of discrimination against white minorities in South Africa, in particular the so-called Afrikaans, who are descendants of Dutch settlers. Until the early 1990s, they led the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, which systematically discriminated against the black majority.
Trump is particularly bothered by a new law that allows land expropriation in the public interest to redress inequalities from the apartheid era. The majority of agricultural land in South Africa is still owned by members of the small white minority.
Experts disagree with Trump's description of an alleged genocide. In doing so, he is taking up a conspiracy theory of so-called "white genocide" that is widespread in right-wing extremist circles. South Africa also firmly rejects the accusation.
Escalation and attempted de-escalation
At the beginning of February, Trump froze aid to South Africa, and in March the USA also expelled the country's ambassador. Recently, the USA took in the first group of white South Africans and granted them refugee status - although Trump's government has largely stopped taking in refugees from war and crisis zones, for example.the South African government had firmly rejected the accusations made by the Americans before Ramaphosa's visit and sharply criticized the relocation. Ramaphosa finally traveled to Washington specifically with the aim of easing tensions between the two countries, and said at the meeting with Trump that he had come to achieve a new start in relations with the USA. "We want to realign relations between our two countries."
Trump's provocation
However, after a lengthy exchange in front of the cameras, Trump suddenly dimmed the lights in the Oval Office and played video footage on a large television. The images showed graves on the side of a road, the Republican claimed. "It's a horrible sight. I've never seen anything like it."
The video was recorded in September 2020 during a protest after two people had been killed on their farm a week earlier, according to the English news agency Reuters. The crosses did not mark real graves, it said. An organizer of the protest had told South African public radio at the time that they stood for farmers who had been killed over the years.
Ramaphosa replied: "Did they tell you where that is, Mr. President? I would like to know where that is because I have never seen that." He would look into it, the South African president promised. Trump also held up printed articles about alleged violence against white farmers, went through the pages one by one and commented: "Death, death, death." At the end, he handed the pile of papers to his counterpart.
Charm offensive by the guest from South Africa
Ramaphosa repeatedly tried to ease the situation and emphasized that if there were problems, they would have to be discussed between partners. He was prepared to talk about anything - without the presence of reporters. The South African president also tried several times to flatter Trump, make him laugh with jokes and soften him up with political offers - such as access to South African raw materials.
At the start, for example, the guest announced that he had brought a "fantastic" book with him as a gift, which showcased South Africa's golf courses. Trump is a passionate golfer. "I would like to introduce you to our golf courses," Ramaphosa courted Trump's favor and said that he himself had also started playing golf in the meantime. "So I'm ready."
The South African president invited Trump to pay a state visit to his country and offered new trade deals. South Africa had raw materials on offer that the USA needed, including rare earths.
Trump: I would take an airplane
Elsewhere, Ramaphosa tried his hand at humor. When Trump was asked about the controversial agreement whereby the USA would accept a jumbo jet as a gift from Qatar to be retrofitted as a presidential plane for Trump, the South African interjected: "I'm sorry I don't have a plane for you." Trump replied: "If your country offered the United States Air Force an airplane, I would accept it."
However, Trump repeatedly returned to his "genocide" accusations and spoke of a "very sad thing". The 78-year-old warned: "This has to be solved." If this were to happen, then the prospects for the relationship with South Africa would be "fantastic".
Perhaps attending the G20 summit after all?
When asked whether he would travel to the G20 summit in South Africa in November in view of the tensions, Trump finally responded somewhat more favorably and at least kept his participation open. It was important for the USA to be present at both the meeting of the G7 group of major industrialized nations and the G20 summit, Trump said. However, he did not provide a clear commitment. The summit of the leading industrialized and emerging nations (G20) will take place in November in the South African economic metropolis of Johannesburg.
Trump had indicated in April that he could boycott the summit in November. In recent weeks, Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had already canceled preparatory meetings with their G20 counterparts in South Africa.
And shortly before Trump's meeting with Ramaphosa, Rubio had said at a hearing in the US Senate that the US government had decided not to attend this year's G20 summit in South Africa - "neither at the Secretary of State level nor at the presidential level". The background to this was a number of topics on the agenda of the meeting that did not reflect the priorities of the Trump administration. This now appears to be a matter for negotiation.