US President Donald Trump pressed President Cyril Ramaphosa to protect white Afrikaner farmers from violent attacks in an extraordinary Oval Office conversation in which Trump made no mention of the African nation’s long-standing epidemic of violence against both white and black people, nor its violent and discriminatory history of white rule.
Trump amplified false claims that white Afrikaners have been victims of a genocide, even showing video of crosses and earthen mounds that he said represented more than 1,000 grave sites of murdered farmers. The mounds were, in fact, part of a protest against the violence, not actual graves.
Ramaphosa stared straight ahead, wiping his face and occasionally moving in his seat and looking over at Trump, who wouldn’t make eye contact as a clip played of crowds repeatedly shouting, “Kill the Boers.”
While Ramaphosa and several of his deputies sought to agree with Trump that violence is an epidemic concern, they also noted that it is a problem across all of South Africa — not just in rural areas and certainly not just against white people. They blamed the violence on “criminality” and denied Trump’s claim that the government itself is responsible for the murder of white farmers.
The remarkable exchange was broadcast live around the world and amplified a long-running crisis of violence in South Africa while also showcasing Trump’s selective, and racially polarising, view of the problem. The Oval Office meeting had been billed as a chance to reset the trade relationship between the two countries after Trump’s tariffs, and came as tensions escalated over the president’s focus on Afrikaners. The issue has long been a focus of Elon Musk, a South-African born senior adviser to Trump who was in the room on Wednesday.
After the video, South Africa’s president asked: “Have they told you where that is? Mr. President? I’d like to know where that is. Because this I’ve never seen.”
“It’s in South Africa,” Trump responded.
The video focuses on Julius Malema, leader of the EFF. That clip was seized on by Musk, who tweeted in 2023, “They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.” Ramaphosa’s ANC distanced itself from the song featured in the clip in 2012 — the same year it expelled Malema from the party.
The meeting began with a lighter mood, and Trump warmly greeted Ramaphosa outside the North Portico before they moved into the Oval Office. Still, Trump hinted at potential problems ahead: “He is a man who is certainly, in some circles, really respected. Other circles, a little bit less respected. Like all of us, in all fairness,” he said, making clear that the meeting was coming at Ramaphosa’s request.
He called ... I don’t know where he got my number, but I picked up.
— US President Donald Trump
“He called,” Trump said. “I don’t know where he got my number, but I picked up.”
Ramaphosa noted in his opening comments that Trump requested that he bring along some South African sporting legends, though Trump seemed disappointed that Ramaphosa didn’t bring Gary Player, the retired South African golfer.
“I spoke to him,” Ramaphosa said. “He said, ‘Look, I’m getting on in my years.’ But he wishes us luck in this discussion with you.”
Trump soon turned towards more pointed criticism, and the scene turned into one matched only by the one months ago when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to the White House and was criticised by Trump and vice-president JD Vance.
“We’ve had tremendous complaints about Africa, about other countries, too, from people,” Trump said on Wednesday, looking at Ramaphosa next to him. “They say there’s a lot of bad things going on in Africa. And that’s what we’re going to be discussing today.”
The US recently granted refugee status to white South Africans under a humanitarian designation meant for people fleeing war or persecution that the Trump administration has suspended for other groups worldwide, and welcomed roughly 50 Afrikaners to the country this month.
Trump held up news articles in the Oval Office that he suggested were validation of his claims of genocide, but later said he hadn’t decided whether what is occurring in South Africa should be declared as such.
“I haven’t made up my mind. I hate to see it from the standpoint of South Africa,” he said. “I’m trying to save lives, no matter where.”
Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen conceded that there are problems that South Africa needs to address on safety for farmers.
“I would say we have a rural safety problem in South Africa,” he said during the tense meeting in the Oval Office. “I don’t think anyone wants to candy coat that. And it requires a lot of effort to get on top of it.”
He said more policing was required, and a different strategy to address the problems. “But certainly the majority of South Africans, commercial and smaller farmers really do want to stay in South Africa and make it work,” he added.
Trump grew irritated during the meeting when a reporter asked about his willingness to accept a $400m (R7.17bn) aeroplane from Qatar, which he wants to retrofit for use as a new Air Force One.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have a plane to give you,” Ramaphosa said, triggering some laughter and temporarily breaking the tension.
“I wish you did,” Trump said. “I would take it.”
His focus on white Afrikaners has intensified in recent months over a recently enacted law that allows the country’s government to expropriate land without compensation in rare cases. Described by the nation’s leaders as a tool to help unwind the legacy of apartheid, Trump has said the measure discriminates against white farmers — a contention the South African government has denied.
Ramaphosa has repeatedly challenged Trump’s portrayal of the country’s treatment of white farmers, who a 2017 audit found make up 7% of the population of South Africa, but own three-quarters of the country’s land in an enduring vestige of state-sanctioned segregation.
While Ramaphosa in public comments leading up to the meeting said he hoped to “consolidate good relations between our two countries”, Trump’s criticism complicates efforts to recalibrate the relationship. Trump in recent months expelled the South African ambassador from the US and slashed aid to the country, which also faces other economic hurdles connected to Trump’s tariff policies.
The US is one of South Africa’s leading trade partners — behind only China. America imported $14.7bn (R263.64bn) worth of goods from the country, up 4.9% from 2023, according to the US trade representative.
As Africa’s largest economy, South Africa has been roiled by global financial uncertainty caused by Trump’s tariffs. The meeting comes at a time of low growth and high unemployment in South Africa, which is keen to attract investment and benefit from a trade pact under the US African Growth and Opportunity Act , which expires in September and provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to US markets.
Barney Mthombothi, a columnist for the Sunday Times and former editor of the Financial Mail and Sunday Tribune and head of the SABC, said many South Africans are wary of the meeting.
“A lot of people think this is a trap, a setup,” Mthombothi said, speaking ahead of the meeting. “If Trump was interested in [knowing] what was happening in this country, how can he take action and then listen afterward.”
Refugees seeking asylum in the US without the benefit of a presidential push can languish for years, and some critics have questioned the administration’s decision to welcome Afrikaners as refugees under a humanitarian designation meant to shield people fleeing persecution when it has denied this help to many non-White victims of violence.
“The whole idea that white South Africans are being oppressed is so scandalous, it’s offensive to black people who have been oppressed for centuries,” Mthombothi said.
The Washington Post
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