U.S. President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with concerns of white genocide and unfair land seizures during a tense White House meeting on Thursday. He played a video consisting of clips of inflammatory speeches by South African politicians, including Julius Malema, and a line of white crosses at burial sites for murdered white farmers.
The discussion, initially intended to focus on trade and bilateral relations, took a dramatic turn when Trump presented what he said was evidence of a "white genocide" against the 4.5 million-strong Whites in South Africa.
Trump played a video montage, dimming the Oval Office lights for effect, featuring clips of Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a radical far-left opposition party, singing an anti-white song with lyrics translated as "Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer," (white farmer).
The video also shows a line of white crosses at a burial site marking over 1,000 murdered white farmers. Ramaphosa questioned the location of these alleged graves, claiming he had never seen such footage.
Trump also presented news articles, flipping through them and emphasizing "death, death, death, horrible death" to the stories of targeted violence against white farmers.
Trump also hammered Ramaphosa for a recently passed law allowing the South African government to confiscate allegedly unused land — as South Africa-born Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a key Trump adviser, looked on in the White House.
"You allow them to take land, & then when they take the land, they kill the white farmer, & when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them,"" Trump said.
Ramaphosa said that the chants and speeches shown in the video do not represent government policy and that there is no genocide in South Africa. He said that crime affects many people in South Africa, not just white farmers. The country has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
The South African president claimed that Malema, expelled from the African National Congress (ANC) in 2012, leads a minority party (EFF, with 9% of the vote in recent elections) and that South Africa’s constitution protects freedom of speech, allowing such expressions despite their controversy.
“What you saw, the speeches that were being made, one that is not government policy,” Ramaphosa insisted. "Our government policy is completely, completely aginst what (Malema) was saying."
Trump shot back, “Why wouldn’t you arrest that man? That was a stadium that holds 100,000 people, and I hardly saw an empty seat,” referencing the venue where Malema was speaking as shown in the video.
Ramaphosa highlighted the presence of white South Africans in his delegation, including golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, arguing that their participation contradicted claims of systemic persecution. "If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here," he claimed.
The South African president blamed violence on unemployment, telling Trump, “Crime really thrives where there is inequality and unemployment, and that is one of the reasons that has brought us here to improve our investment relations, our trade relations.”
Ramaphosa sought to focus on trade, highlighting 600 U.S. companies operating in South Africa and rare earth mining opportunities.
“Our main, main, real reason for being here is to foster trade and investment,” he added, “so that we are able to grow our economy, with your support, and so that we are also able to address all these societal problems.”
As Ramaphosa left the White House after about three hours, he told reporters the meeting “went very well.”
“Yes, he did,” the South African leader added when asked if Trump had heard his concerns. “It went very well.”
During the White House meeting Trump called out far-left NBC News reporter Peter Alexander for asking about the Qatari jet gift to the U.S. military which will be converted for use temporarily as Airforce One.
Trump interrupted Alexander when he asked about the jet, saying, "What are you talking about? You ought to get out of here. You are a terrible reporter. Number one, you don’t have what it takes to be a reporter. You are not smart enough. But for you to go on to a subject about a jet that was given to the United States Air Force, which is a very nice thing." He then added that Brian Roberts, CEO of NBC parent company Comcast, "ought to be investigated" for running the network poorly.
Ther president called the far-left reporter a "jerk" and a "terrible reporter" who was "not smart enough."
The president at one point, also called out the media for not covering the anti-white violence in South Africa. “I will say, apartheid, terrible,” he said. “That was the biggest story — that was reported all the time. This is sort of the opposite of apartheid. What’s happening now is never reported.”
Back home, South Africans praised Ramaphosa’s composure, with ANC leader Fikile Mbalula and analyst Kagiso Pooe commending his handling of the "ambush." However, Malema’s EFF criticized the delegation for failing to dispel the genocide myth effectively.
Thursday's meeting drew comparisons to Trump’s confrontational February 2025 encounter with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Tensions have escalated due to Trump’s policies, including cutting U.S. aid to South Africa, imposing 31% tariffs, and expelling South Africa’s ambassador for criticizing the MAGA movement. The U.S. also granted refugee status to 59 white Afrikaners, a decision Ramaphosa argued does not align with the refugee definition, as they were not fleeing persecution.
