US President Donald Trump ambushed South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa with a video and a sheaf of press reports alleging the mass killing of white South African farmers in an extraordinary White House press conference that left diplomatic relations in the gutter.
After a relatively restrained opening fifteen minutes to the meeting – in which the leaders traded pleasantries and Ramaphosa, flanked by legendary South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and billionaire businessman Johann Rupert, expressed his wish for deeper trade ties with the US – Trump ordered the dimming of the Oval Office lights and the presentation of a video prominently featuring fiery speeches and anti-farmer chants by South Africa’s radical opposition leader Julius Malema.
In a rambling commentary, Trump attempting to interpret what was being shown on the screen, including footage of an apparent memorial for slain South African farmers which he said showed “burial sites” of white farmers.
“Have they told you where that is Mr President?” a puzzled Ramaphosa asked Trump.
“I’d like to know where that is, because this I’ve never seen. I need to find out.”
Meeting recalls Zelensky chaos
In scenes reminiscent of the ugly diplomatic assault on Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky during his disastrous Oval Office meeting with Trump in February, a visibly uncomfortable Ramaphosa shifted in his seat as Trump brandished what he said were press reports of “people that recently got killed” in farm attacks.
“These are articles over the last few days….death…death…death…horrible death….I don’t know how it could get any worse.”
He went on to repeatedly amplify lurid and baseless claims about the situation in South Africa, many of which have been broadcast in recent months by Trump and his allies, including South African-born billionaire businessmen Elon Musk. Trump insisted that unnamed friends had warned him about South Africa.
“I have other friends from South Africa, people that left, one in particular who says you can’t go there because he said they take your land and they kill you.”
Ramaphosa countered that the video shown did not reflect government policy and said that Malema’s speeches reflected minority views in a multi-party democracy.
“Our government policy is completely against what he (Malema) was saying, even in the parliament. They are a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution…There is criminality in our country, people who do get killed unfortunately through criminal activity are not only white people. The majority of them are black people.”
Invited by Ramaphosa to respond to Trump’s claims, minister of agriculture John Steenhuisen, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, admitted that South Africa has a rural crime problem but said that the purpose of South Africa’s government of national unity was to keep radicals dedicated to violence and land expropriation out of office.
Ramaphosa’s diplomacy hits dead end
A diplomatic Ramaphosa attempted to lead the meeting back to safer ground by inviting the US security sector to bring its technological capabilities to South African crime-fighting – an argument echoed by billionaire Richemont founder Rupert, who called for the use of Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service in police stations.
Ramaphosa also attempted to explain South Africa’s limited land redistribution policy to Trump after the US president alleged that “you’re taking people’s land away from them, and those people in many cases are being executed, and they happen to be white and most of them happen to be farmers.”
But Trump’s wild accusations left Ramaphosa’s hopes for a reset of relations with the US in tatters after months of coordinated diplomatic attacks, which has included the expulsion of South African ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, secretary of state Marco Rubio’s refusal to attend a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Johannesburg, and the granting of refugee status to Afrikaners who believe themselves to be persecuted.
