Trump confronts South Africa's Ramaphosa with genocide claim

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he expected his US counterpart Donald Trump to attend a Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg in November despite a tense meeting at the White House on Wednesday.

"I expect him to be coming to South Africa," Ramaphosa told reporters after the meeting.

Ramaphosa said he noted to Trump the United States' role in creating the club of the world's largest economies, highlighting the importance of the US assuming the G20 presidency for 2026.

"It's important that the United States should continue playing a key role," Ramaphosa said. "I want to hand over the presidency of the G20 to President Trump in November, and I said he needs to be there. I don't want to hand over the presidency of the G20 to an empty chair."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this year boycotted a G20 meeting of foreign ministers which also took place in Johannesburg.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa insisted that, contrary to claims made by his US counterpart Donald Trump, there is "no genocide in South Africa."

The issue, which has been central to recently strained ties between the two countries, was dramatically brought up during the encounter in the Oval Office.

Speaking at a press conference after meeting with Trump at the White House, Ramaphosa said "there is just no genocide in South Africa."

During the tense scenes, Ramaphosa and members of his delegation repeatedly denied that minority white South Africans were facing deadly violence and persecution.

The South African delegation did however acknowledge that violent crime is serious issue in their country, while pointing out that the majority of victims are Black.

Despite the tension on display, Ramaphosa said his government would continue holding talks with the Trump administration on a range of issues, including trade and industry, and that they had held "really good in-depth exchanges."

"I was rather pleased that there is a firm agreement and undertaking that we are going to continue engaging. So there is no disengagement. For us that was one of the key outcomes," the South African leader said.

He also said he wants to boost the South African economy with US investments, which he said would help tackle the security issues in his nation.

Ramaphosa also mentioned the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which gives certain African nations duty-free access to the US market.

The initiative is due to expire in September, and there have been doubts about whether it will be extended given Trump's tariffs and his administration's volatile approach to international trade.

The South African leader said discussions on extending AGOA would continue.

After the Oval Office meeting, the delegations met for a working lunch, which Ramaphosa said was also attended by Trump ally, South African-born billionaire Elon Musk.

Ramaphosa told the press conference that Musk had raised the issue of his Tesla electric cars being made available for sale in South Africa.

The South African president also said that use of Starlink — the satellite internet service owned by Musk's SpaceX — was not discussed during the lunch.
 

In addition to a video, Donald Trump presented Cyril Ramaphosa with a stack of printed news articles that the US president said contained evidence of an ongoing genocide in South Africa against white people.

As he sifted through the papers, Trump told the South African president that they showed "death of people — death, death, death, horrible death."

He said the press clippings were all from articles that had been published in "the last few days" and said "these are all people that recently got killed."

The disputed allegations of persecution of the white Afrikaner minority — espoused by Trump's ally and adviser, South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk — are a major part of why bilateral ties between the two countries have been so strained in recent months.

Among the stack of documents was an article from February published by a fringe conservative US online publication called "American Thinker," AFP news agency reported. 

The article featured an image of Red Cross workers handling body bags, which Trump said was evidence of "burial sites all over the place." 

"These are all white farmers that are being buried," he said.

However, contrary to Trump's claim, the image is from a Youtube video of Red Cross workers dealing with the aftermath of a mass jailbreak in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, in which women were raped and burned alive.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has insisted that his meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, went "very well."

In front of reporters, Ramaphosa and Trump were in the Oval Office discussing what they planned to discuss during their meeting, when the US president unexpectedly played a video that featured highly disputed allegations of a "genocide" against White South Africans.

As the video played, Ramaphosa looked visibly uncomfortable, while Trump repeatedly talked over the visiting president when the South African leader tried to interject or respond to the claims.

Despite those scenes, Ramaphosa told reporters that "it went very well" as he left the White House.

"We will focus on what we are going to get out of the bilateral meeting with the US," a spokesperson for the South African president added.

During the session's tensest moments, Ramaphosa urged Trump to discuss such divisive racial issues "very calmly," evoking the legacy of Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist who became South Africa's first black head of state and first democratically elected president after the end of apartheid.

"We were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems, people need to sit down around the table and talk about them," he said.

Ramaphosa also tried to steer the conversation into calmer waters, bringing up trade, economic partnerships and even golf in a bid to placate Trump.

Donald Trump once again used the Oval Office as a backdrop to ambush a high-ranking visitor — this time, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

In a move to shame the South African leader, Trump showed a video claiming that white farmers are facing genocide in South Africa, which is, of course, not true.

Trump could have done this for two reasons: First, to distract from his own failures and problems, such as his inability to end the war in Ukraine or deal with issues related to a major spending bill. However, there is another underlying, recurring theme: Donald Trump repeatedly blames brown and Black people for crimes they did not commit and seeks to expel as many non-whites from the United States as possible.

His acceptance of nearly 60 white South Africans into the country as "refugees" underscores this intention. His slogan "Make America Great Again" also implies to him and his supporters the idea of "Make America White Again."

After the meeting, Ramaphosa, for his part, said the meeting went "very well" and a spokesperson added that "at some point, this narrative around white persecution in South Africa is going to get tired."

A spokesperson for South Africa's Foreign Ministry has said "there is no land confiscation" in the country.

Chrispin Phiri made the remarks in a post on X after US President Donald Trump had challenged his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, on the issue at the start of his visit to the White House.

Trump presented a video and documents to Ramaphosa that made claims of White South African farmers facing "genocide" and "persecution" and having their land taken away — claims the South African delegation strongly and repeatedly denied.

While he has aggressively tried to curb immigration to the US since returning to the White House this year, Trump this week fast-tracked the arrival of dozens of white South Africans.

The US president has repeatedly claimed that "thousands" of White South Africans were trying to come to the US, as well as a smaller number to Australia, to escape ethnic violence.

The G20 would not have "the same meaning" if the United States were not a part of it, US President Trump said.

He made the remarks in response to a question from a South African reporter about whether he would travel to South Africa in November for a G20 Summit, when the US is due to take over the group's rotating presidency. 

Asked if he was preparing to come to South Africa, Trump said, "so without the United States, the G20 — just like the G7, used to be the G8, but brilliantly, they threw Russia out. It would have been a lot better if Russia was in … because if Russia was in, you probably wouldn't have this war (in Ukraine).

"But we have a G7. It's important that the United States is in both of them. I think, without the United States, I really believe it's not very important. It's not, it's not the same meaning," the US president said.

Ramaphosa then interjected, saying he had told Trump that as an "originator" of the G20, it's "important that the US continues to play a key role" in the organization, adding that he expects Washington to do so.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's delegation in Washington included two top South African golfers as well as Johann Rupert, the country's richest man.

Majors winners Ernie Els and Retief Goosen — both Afrikaners, the white minority group that Trump says is being persecuted in South Africa — have reportedly played golf with the US president before.

The three were included in Ramaphosa's delegation in an apparent attempt to help smooth strained relations with Trump — himself a billionaire and avid golfer often seen on the links of his courses during his presidency.

At the start of the Oval Office meeting, before Ramaphosa was dramatically confronted with a video showing what Trump said was evidence of persecution and killings of white South African farmers, the South African president said he was in Washington "to reset the relationship" between the two countries.

During the tense press conference, Rupert acknowledged the "killing" in South Africa, but pointed out that it was "across the board" and was not only targeting white farmers.

He said South Africa "needs US help" to stop the deadly violence plaguing his country.

"We have too many deaths... It's not only white farmers, it's across the board, and we need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones," Rupert said.

Starlink is a satellite internet service owned by SpaceX, one of Elon Musk's companies.

South Africa's agriculture minister, John Henry Steenhuisen, denied Trump's claim that most White South African farmers were trying to flee the country because of "genocide" and  "persecution."

Steenhuisen, one of Cyril Ramaphosa's white cabinet members who was in the tense Oval Office press conference, said "the majority" of South African farmers "really do want to stay in South Africa and make it work."

He acknowledged that crime is an issue. He said police and justice authorities wanted to "start making farm attacks and stock theft a priority crime." He said crime "affects all farmers in South Africa," including black farmers. 

Steenhuisen also said the political leaders featured in the video Trump played who were calling for violence against white farmers were "precisely the reason" why his Democratic Alliance party had chosen to "join hands" with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

"We cannot have those people sitting in the Union Buildings making decisions. That is why, after 30 years of us exchanging barbs across the floor in Parliament and trying to get one over on each other, we've decided to join hands precisely to keep that lot out of government," the agriculture minister said.

"That is why this government, working together, needs the support of our allies around the world so that we can strengthen our health, grow our economy, and shut the door forever on that rabble getting through the doors of the Union Buildings," Steenhuisen said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told US President Donald Trump that footage the US president played showing Black South African political leaders calling for violence against white farmers is "not government policy."

In a dramatic, tense exchange, Trump played a video making allegations of White South African farmers being targeted with deadly violence.

"What you saw, the speeches that were being made — that is not government policy," Ramaphosa told Trump.

The South African leader said his government was "completely against" the views being espoused in the video.

"We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties that adhere to various policies," Ramaphosa said.

"Our government policy is completely against what he was saying, even in the parliament. And they're a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our Constitution," he said.

President Donald Trump has asked White House staff to play videos allegedly depicting genocide in South Africa during his meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Trump told Ramaphosa and gathered media that the clips featured Black South African officials speaking and inciting violence. It also included what Trump described as "burial sites."

Ramaphosa, who sat quietly watching, later remarked, "I'd like to know where that is because this I've never seen," referring to the content of the videos.

The supposed genocide has been disputed by experts in South Africa, who say there is no evidence of whites being targeted. Farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in the country, which suffers from a very high crime rate.

Afrikaner farmers in South Africa also say the genocide claim is false and there is no evidence for it.
The claims of genocide by Trump have also been made by his friend and adviser, South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk, who was also in the Oval Office during the tense exchange.

US President Donald Trump has welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House, with the two leaders shaking hands and briefly posing for pictures before heading inside.

The South African leader's arrival was delayed, although it was not clear on whose part the hold-up had been.

Trump took two brief questions from a reporter on his tax-cutting bill and a meeting with Pope Leo's brother, before the pair headed inside.

The South African delegation includes three men who Trump is likely to get along with: billionaire luxury goods tycoon Johann Rupert, four-time major golf championship winner Ernie Els and professional golfer Retief Goosen. 

Els, who has played golf with Trump in the past, is reported to have helped set up the meeting between Ramaphosa and the US president. 

Their presence is considered an ice-breaker back home, as some South Africans fear that Ramaphosa could face a similar White House showdown as experienced by Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

The inclusion of the three wealthy, white men is also seen as a contrast to Trump's "white genocide" allegations against post-apartheid South Africa. 

When Ramaphosa went to the South African Embassy in Washington on Tuesday, a reporter asked him if he was ready to navigate a personal relationship with Trump who "doesn't like to be beaten on the golf course."

"I also don't like to beaten at the golf course. I play golf like he does, so maybe one day we'll have a good round of golf," Ramaphosa said. 

Relations between the US and South Africa have deteriorated rapidly since the beginning of this year, driven by ideological differences, geopolitical alliances, and domestic policy conflicts.

Ramaphosa's trip comes just days after the US welcomed a group of white South African "refugees," who Trump claimed were being persecuted in South Africa because of their race, and facing "genocide." Ramaphosa's government denies the allegations and says white people, who own more than 70% of the land in South Africa, despite making up just 7% of the population, are not discriminated against.

Tensions also rose because of Trump's recent trade policies, which hit South Africa hard, but also because of the cuts in US aid for development projects.

The relationship was already strained after South Africa filed a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, alleging that the Israeli military was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Another aspect of the breakdown of relations is South Africa's role within BRICS.

Read DW's full analysis here.

Ramaphosa said trade would be his focus during the meeting with Trump.

"That's what brought us here," he told reporters as he arrived at the South African Embassy in Washington, noting that the US is South Africa's second-biggest trading partner after China. 

Media reports have suggested that the discussions would also include business opportunities for Tesla and Starlink. Both companies are owned by Trump's South Africa-born ally Elon Musk, who had accused Ramaphosa of "anti-white policies." 

US officials have hinted that Trump is likely to ask Ramaphosa to exempt US companies from South African laws that make it mandatory for large businesses to have 30% equity stake held by historically disadvantaged groups.

The Associated Press (AP) news agency reported, citing a White House official, that Trump would also call on Ramaphosa to condemn politicians who "promote genocidal rhetoric" and to classify farm attacks as a priority crime.

Ramaphosa said he was also looking forward to discussing Israel's war in Gaza and Russia's war in Ukraine.