President Trump ambushed South African president Cyril Ramaphosa Wednesday with a long video he says supports unfounded claims of persecution against minority whites who previously ruled under the racist apartheid system.
After starting with a chummy chat about golf, Trump shocked Ramaphosa and his delegation by screening a video in the Oval Office that he claimed showed attacks on white South Africans and funerals of murdered white farmers.
“When you look at the videos: How could it get worse?” Trump declared. “They take your land and they kill you…We’re going to talk about it.”
“The majority of people who are killed in our country are Black,” responded Ramaphosa, invoking the legacy of freedom fighter Nelson Mandela as a voice of reconciliation.
“The farmers are white,” Trump retorted. “And they’re being killed in large numbers.”
“This is sort of the opposite of apartheid,” Trump claimed, calling the attacks evidence of “genocide” against whites.
Ramaphosa pushed for the high-stakes meeting with Trump in an attempt to salvage ties with the United States, which have hit their lowest point since the end of the apartheid system of racial segregation in 1994.
Elon Musk, the South African-born mogul who has spouted the unfounded claims of genocide against the still-privileged white community, crashed the working lunch.
Ramaphosa countered with a couple of human props of his own, including Trump golf buddies Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, along with billionaire Johann Rupert.
“We’re proud South Africans and we want to … see our country flourish,” Els said.
South Africans and some independent analysts warned of the danger of Ramaphosa walking into an Oval Office ambush at the hands of Trump like the one recently endured by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
But Ramaphosa is a seasoned negotiator who seemed well prepared for the mercurial Trump and kept his cool during the sometimes tense meeting.
Aside from the issue of white South Africans, whom Trump has welcomed to the U.S. as supposed refugees, Ramaphosa clearly wanted to discuss trade.
South Africa is the largest and most industrialized economy in Africa and exports cars, wine and fruit to the U.S. It also possesses vast mineral wealth, including huge deposits of gold, diamonds and especially platinum.
Trump slapped what he called reciprocal tariffs on South Africa along with the rest of the world, but suspended them for 90 days as negotiations progress. Getting a better deal is at the top of Ramaphosa’s to-do list.
Trump also cut all U.S. assistance to South Africa.
The Trump administration has brought a small group of white South Africans to the U.S. as refugees even as it turns away millions of non-white asylum seekers from other nations.
South African Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, a white opposition leader who joined a Ramaphosa-led coalition government, has said no land was being seized from farmers and claims of genocide were false.
He told Trump that the majority of white farmers want to stay in South Africa and resolve racial issues.
Originally Published: May 21, 2025 at 1:26 PM EDT
