By Johnathan Paoli
The much-anticipated diplomatic meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House opened with a rocky start on Wednesday.
Trump insisted that conditions were deteriorating for white South Africans, spotlighting Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema in a surprise video presentation.
Originally framed as an opportunity to “reset” trade and diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Oval Office encounter took a confrontational turn, as Trump raised longstanding and widely debunked claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa, alleging that Afrikaner farmers were being systematically targeted in violent attacks.
“We have many people who feel they are being persecuted. I must tell you, Mr President, we have had a tremendous number of people [white farmers] who are fleeing South Africa, and it’s a very sad thing to see,” Trump said.
Calling for the lights to be dimmed, Trump directed attention to a screen beside Ramaphosa and played a curated montage of footage, including clips of Malema chanting “kill the Boer, kill the farmer”.
Ramaphosa pushed back on Trump’s assertion that white farmers were uniquely targeted.
“There is crime in our country, and the people who get killed are not only white people. We are willing to talk to you about that,” Ramaphosa said.
He emphasised that Malema did not represent government policy.
Among the delegation were South African business tycoon Johann Rupert, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, and golfing legends Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, the latter two in an attempted appeal to Trump’s love of golf.
Ramaphosa offered Trump a coffee table book on South African golf and urged a focus on shared economic interests.
He reaffirmed his intention to restore relations, while defending South Africa’s land reform legislation aimed at redressing apartheid-era inequalities.
Steenhuisen, defending his government’s stance, stressed that most South African farmers, Black and white, were committed to staying and contributing to the economy.
Rupert added that while crime was indeed rampant, it affected all communities, not just white ones.
“The crime is terrible, but Mr Steenhuisen runs the Western Cape, where the biggest murder rate is in the Cape Flats,” he remarked.
Despite these efforts, Trump continued pressing the “white genocide” narrative, citing unverified reports.
Malema responded swiftly on social media on Wednesday night, mocking the attention he received.
“A group of older men meet in Washington to gossip about me. No significant amount of intelligence evidence has been produced about white genocide.
“We will not agree to compromise our political principles on land expropriation without compensation for political expediency,” Malema said.
The EFF issued a detailed statement denouncing the White House event as an orchestrated attack on Malema and its broader political agenda.
According to the party, what was presented as a trade and diplomacy meeting turned into a “discussion about Julius Malema”, exposing an alliance between “white capital” and a “neoliberal ANC”.
The EFF defended the controversial chant featured in the video, noting that it had been upheld by South Africa’s highest courts as constitutionally protected expression.
The red berets argued that Trump’s spotlighting of the chant was an attempt to criminalise dissent and distract from the complexities of South Africa’s post-apartheid transformation.
Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi commented that “the issue in South Africa is not race but crime,” while calling for the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and increased foreign investment.
ANC secretary-General Fikile Mbalula revealed that Trump had specifically requested Rupert’s presence, further fueling speculation of a strategic alignment between conservative US interests and South African business elites.
Steenhuisen, speaking after the meeting, said the Democratic Alliance’s involvement in the Government of National Unity was aimed at “keeping the EFF and MKP out of the Union Buildings,” and reiterated that the government had no interest in targeting white citizens.
The DA’s Emma Powell praised Steenhuisen for defusing tensions during the Trump-Ramaphosa meeting by rebuking the EFF and MK Party, while ANC’s Lindiwe Zulu emphasised the need for government and the ANC to counter harmful narratives and project a more constructive image of South Africa internationally.
These moves, alongside growing criticism of South Africa’s support for the International Court of Justice case against Israel, suggest a worsening relationship between Washington and Pretoria.
The EFF has vowed to resist any perceived infringement on South African sovereignty, especially regarding land reform and foreign corporate interests like Elon Musk’s Starlink.
INSIDE POLITICS