By Hans Ngala
A meeting between US President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa nearly devolved into a Zelensky-style confrontation, but Ramaphosa was smart enough not to fall for Trump’s antagonistic attacks.
Both leaders began their discussions cordially, with Ramaphosa wooing Trump with talks about his country’s rare earth minerals and many golf courses. He then jokingly said that he didn’t have a plane to offer to Trump (a clear reference to the recent plane donated to Trump by Qatari officials), and both men laughed about it.
However, things quickly turned sour when a reporter asked Trump what it would take for him to change his mind about his false claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa, and Ramaphosa quickly jumped in and said he would answer that question. Ramaphosa, being the measured and diplomatic leader, said it would take Trump listening to the voices of Afrikaners (some of whom came with Ramaphosa from South Africa).
Trump interrupted and said that there was a “genocide” happening in South Africa and produced a stack of printed news articles, which he claimed supported his “genocide” allegations.
Trump then asked for a White House aide to dim the lights and he played a collage of South African opposition political leader Julius Malema and former South African president, Jacob Zuma both singing anti-Apartheid songs with the chants “Kill the Boer, Kill the farmer” – a song which a South African court has since ruled is not a call to violence because it was a struggle song in the Apartheid era and according to the court, the song could therefore not be interpreted literally.
Trump claimed that was his evidence of this “white genocide,” but Ramaphosa challenged him calmly, stating that South Africa, like the United States, has freedom of expression laws and people are free to say whatever they like as long as it is not a direct call for violence. Trump again pushed back, saying that farmers were being killed, “and you’re doing nothing about it”.
President Ramaphosa was put on the spot and had a hard time convincing Trump otherwise, and at some point, he asked for the opposition party leader and the current Minister of Agriculture, who is himself an Afrikaner, to explain better. Steenhuisen said that the video doesn’t represent the views of all South Africans and that that was in fact why he (Steenhuisen) accepted to be part of the current South African Government of National Unity, which saw the ANC for the first time in over 30 years, sharing power with several opposition parties. Steenhuisen said he accepted to be part of the government to keep people like Malema out of power in the Union Buildings (South Africa’s presidency).
This still did little to change Trump’s mind, and Johann Rupert, South Africa’s richest man (after Elon Musk), who is himself an Afrikaner, stepped in to say that violence in South Africa was indeed “across the board” and not targeted at Whites only, as Trump believes.
Two Afrikaner golfers were also present in the room, and one of them proudly displayed his South African passport and said there was general crime and that he knew it could be fixed, and that is why he is a proud South African.
Media analysts and observers have generally applauded Ramaphosa for how he conducted himself in Trump’s presence because the whole video projection was a last-minute, impromptu arrangement. CNN reports that the schedule was suddenly changed, and two White House aides were seen wheeling in two TV monitors into the Oval Office – a breakaway from the protocol and then Trump asked for the videos to be played, essentially ambushing Ramaphosa and not allowing Ramaphosa to finish his sentences. Trump kept interrupting Ramaphosa, but Ramaphosa, not being a combative person, kept his calm and made his points as best as he could under the circumstances.
Redi Tlhlabi, a South African-born, US-based journalist said that it was good that Malema was not physically present in the room or a part of the government because he is as combative as Trump is and had he been part of the delegation, it is certain that the meeting could have descended into fisticuffs or verbal exchanges.
Ramaphosa later held another briefing without Trump and said he believed the “meeting went well”.
South African Police Services (SAPS) released data collected between April 2023 and March 2024 (which can be accessed here: https://www.saps.gov.za/services/downloads/2024/2023-2024%20_Annual_Financial%20year_WEB.pdf), and the statistics clearly state that within this period:
• There were 27,600 murders in South Africa
• Of the above number, only 50 murders took place on farms. Because farm workers (who tend to be Black) also get killed during farm attacks, there is consensus among pundits that the number of white farmers among the 50 murders could be as low as 30.
Also, the printed-out articles Trump was showing to Ramaphosa have been debunked by the Agence France Press (AFP) and The New York Times as being from the DRC, and others have nothing to do with “white genocide” in South Africa.
