Trump faces South African leaders with unfounded claims to target white farmers

U.S. President Donald Trump used the White House meeting to force face-to-face with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing the country of failing to resolve Trump's baseless claims and targeted killing of white farmers.

Trump even dimmed the Oval Office's lights, playing a video of a left-wing politician chanting a song that included the lyrics “Kill the Farmer.” He also introduced news articles to highlight his point of view, saying white farmers in the country faced “death, death, death, horrible death.”

Trump has cut all U.S. aid to South Africa and welcomes dozens of South African farmers to U.S. refugees as he forces the country to conduct “genocide” cases.

The president's black-led administration in South Africa has launched a series of allegations that it is taking land from white farmers, enforcing anti-white policies and following anti-U.S. foreign policy.

Experts in South Africa say no race is a victim of violent family invasions in a country with high crime rates, but there is no evidence that whites are targeted.

“People fled South Africa for their safety,” Trump said. “Their land was confiscated and in many cases, they were killed.”

Fact check Trump

Ramaphosa opposes Trump's allegations. South African leaders have tried to use the meeting to keep records and save his country's relations with the United States. Bilateral relations have been at their lowest point since South Africa implemented its apartheid system, which ended in 1994.

“We totally object to this,” Ramaphosa said of the alleged behavior Trump has in the exchange, adding: “That's not government policy” and “our government policy is completely, completely contrary to what he said.”

Trump was unmoved.

“When they occupied the land, they killed white farmers,” he said.

“The president is a truly respectable person in many circles,” Trump said of the South African president at the beginning of the Oval Office meeting. “In some circles, he is considered somewhat controversial.”

Ramaphosa said it was time to “recalibrate” the relationship and did his best to thank Trump for welcomed him to the White House for negotiations.

“We are essentially trying to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa,” he said.

Trump issued an executive order in February to cut all funds in South Africa from some of his domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the South African government for criticizing the South African government in multiple ways, saying it adopted an anti-white policy at home and supported the world's “bad actors” such as Palestinian radical groups Hamas and Iran.

Misinformation-driven criticism: South Africa

Trump mistakenly accused the South African government of seizing land through a new expropriation law, violating the rights of white Africa Dutch farmers. Without grabbing the land, the South African government backed down, saying our criticism was driven by misinformation.

The Trump administration’s references to descendants of Afrikaans and other European settlers also raised previous claims by Trump’s South African-born adviser Elon Musk and some conservative American commentators that the South African government allows attacks on white farmers, which is genocidal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Trump is still ready to “reset” relations with South Africa, but noted that the administration's concerns about South African policy are deeper than those of white farmers.

South Africa has angered Trump's White House move to file an International Court of Justice accusation of Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Ramaphosa also faces ties with MTN Group, Iran's second largest telecommunications provider, in Washington. It owns nearly half of the joint ventures associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ramaphosa served as chairman of MTN's board of directors from 2002 to 2013.

“When a country and the United States are disorienting on one issue after another, you can now draw conclusions,” Rubio told a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on Tuesday.

The delegation included famous golfers

Given these profound differences, Ramaphosa appears to be taking steps to avoid the kind of controversial involvement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy experienced during his Oval Office visit, when Ukrainian leaders found themselves criticized by Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The disastrous meeting ended when White House officials asked Zelenskyy and his delegation to leave the White House grounds.

The South African presidential delegation included golfers Ernie Els and Retief Gososen, a gesture of golf obsessed with the U.S. president. Luxury tycoon and Afrikaner Johann Rupert were also included in part of the delegation to help ease Trump’s concerns about the land where white farmers were caught.

Musk also attended Wednesday's talks. Tesla and SpaceX CEOs have been at the forefront of criticism of their homeland, using it as a law of affirmative action against white racists.

Musk said on social media that his Starlink Satellite Internet Service cannot obtain a license to operate in South Africa because he is not a black man.

South African authorities say Starlink has not been officially used yet. It can, but it will be subject to the communications sector affirmative action law, requiring foreign companies to allow 30% of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by black or other racial groups who are apartheid shareholders.

The South African government said its long-term affirmative action law is the cornerstone of its efforts to correct the injustice of the white minority segregation rules, which denies opportunities for blacks and other racial groups.