On Wednesday, President Donald Trump met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, where he made controversial claims regarding violence against white farmers in South Africa. Trump presented a video during the meeting that included speeches from Julius Malema, a politician from the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party. This party, which is not part of the governing coalition and received less than 10% of the vote in last year's elections, has been accused of promoting a radical stance against white farmers. However, Ramaphosa expressed confusion over the video's content and described the EFF as a "small minority party."
The Trump administration has utilized claims from fringe politicians and the existing violence in South Africa as a basis for allowing white South Africans to apply for refugee status in the U.S., amidst a broader context of restricting all other refugee admissions. This stance aligns with efforts to remove immigrants such as Afghans who aided U.S. military forces. Trump's assessment of South African politics seems to be influenced by certain wealthy white South Africans, including Elon Musk, who attended the meeting and has shared clips of Malema singing songs with lyrics that reference violence towards white farmers, invoking the term "Boer."
In a moment during the meeting, a reporter inquired whether Trump believed a genocide was taking place in South Africa. Trump's response was non-committal: "I haven't made up my mind." The video shown during the meeting concluded with aerial footage depicting a line of white crosses that Trump claimed were burial sites for murdered white farmers. However, local news sources clarified that these crosses were part of a demonstration conducted in response to the brutal killing of a white couple on their farm in 2020.
As the video played, Ramaphosa seemed bewildered and asked Trump where the scenes were from, admitting he had never seen such imagery. The crosses in the video were reminiscent of a memorial hill in South Africa, which purports to commemorate around 3,000 slain white farmers in a country that experiences over 20,000 murders annually. The South African President pointed out that the majority of murder victims in the country are Black, urging Trump to consider the perspectives of the South African populace to gain a better understanding of the situation. In a tense exchange, Trump insisted, "We have thousands of stories," and presented footage of Malema advocating for land expropriation by Black South Africans, even against the government's position.
Ramaphosa countered that such sentiments do not reflect government policy, stating, "Our government policy is completely against what he is saying, even in the Parliament." He also referenced his white Agricultural Minister, John Steenhuisen, who joined the ruling coalition to prevent the EFF from gaining power in South Africa. The meeting provided a stark representation of the differing narratives and political dynamics at play regarding race relations and violence in South Africa, with Ramaphosa advocating for a more nuanced understanding than what was presented by Trump and his allies.
