U.S. President Donald Trump, who was used as evidence of white genocide in South Africa, was withdrawn from videos captured from the Democratic Republic of the Congo during a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa this week, found in a fact-check report by Reuters.
The news agency confirmed that Trump's photos show that Ramaphosa is a screenshot from a Reuters video released on February 3.
The agency said the video showed humanitarian workers carrying body bags in the Congolese city of Goma.
Trump's printed images were taken from the region after a deadly battle with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and were photographed by Reuters' video reporter Djaffar Al Katanty.
“That day, it was hard for reporters to get in…I had to negotiate directly with the M23 and have the ICRC allowed to shoot,” Al Katanty said.
“Only Reuters have videos,” he continued, adding that it was shocking to see the U.S. president use his image to make unconfirmed claims.
(LR) South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Howard Lutnik spoke to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.
chip somodevilla/getty images
“Given the world, President Trump uses my image to use what I photographed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, whites were killed by blacks,” Al Keitinti said.
However, Trump said in the Oval Office that the image shows that the bodies of farmers were persecuted in South Africa because they were white, a conspiracy theory that has been circulating among the far-right for years and based on false claims.
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The photos Trump showed to Ramaphosa were published along with a blog post written by American Thinker, a conservative online publication covering violent clashes and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo, which in turn removed images from a Reuters video report on YouTube.
In a written statement to the news agency, Andrea Widburg, author and executive editor of the American Thinker Article, said President Trump “misunderstood the image” but added that her post mentioned what it said was Ramaphosa’s “dysfunctional, competitive Marxist government”, whose content “points to the increased pressure, all of which have increased pressure on Africans outside the South.”
The Trump administration did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
The president also showed Ramaphosa a five-minute video, which he said further proves the country's white genocide.
Video shows a populist politician playing controversial anti-apartheid songs, including lyrics about killing farmers.
“People fled South Africa for safety,” Trump said after a brief screening, before insisting that the video depicts the graves of a thousand white farmers.
However, the Guardian reported that the video was taken on the highway connecting the town of Newcastle to the town of Normand, South Africa, and showed the memorial instead of the burial site.
Additionally, Rob Hoatson, who created the memorial to attract public attention, told the BBC that it was not a burial site.
Shortly after the meeting, the White House posted the video to its official X account. (There is no proof of authorization in the video or confirmation that there is no introduction in the video.)
At the meeting, Ramaphosa said he was visiting Washington to “reset” and “recalibrate” relations between the United States and South Africa and improve trade relations.
Tensions between the two countries have increased after President Trump granted U.S. citizenship to a group of South African Africa Dutch, who claimed they were persecuted at home.
South Africa’s first group of Afrikaans who arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on May 12, 2025, listened to U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Landau Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar.
Sol Loeb/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Trump said the purpose of their encounter was to calm the fear of African countries, noting: “We have a lot of people who are very concerned about the doubts about South Africa.”
Ramaphosa interjected, Trump was able to answer questions about NBC reporters’ claims about his white genocide and how to be sure he did not have such a tragedy.
“I can answer this question,” he said, adding that Trump must first hear stories and testimony from the South African delegation in the Oval Office.
– Documents with the Associated Press and Reuters
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
