The president of South Africa is accused of “white persecution” by Trump.
As he met him in the White House.I
n an extraordinary Oval Office meeting, Donald Trump confronts South Africa’s leader with video over discredited claims of a white genocide in South Africa
Trump says white farmers are “fleeing South Africa” and plays footage showing people chanting “kill the Boer, kill the farmer”
This is the first time we’ve seen this sort of ambush in the Oval Office, reports Bernd Debusmann Jr
Responding to the footage, Ramaphosa says the chants don’t represent government policy
There were parallels with the infamous Zelensky meeting in the Oval Office, writes Anthony Zurcher, but Ramaphosa kept his composure
A group of 59 white South Africans recently arrived in the US, where they will be given refugee statusThe two leaders fought over control of the conversation: Trump wanted to talk about violence against white people in South Africa but Ramaphosa wanted to talk trade
Trump seemed to ambush Ramaphosa with a video of opposition party leader Julius Malema singing an apartheid-era song: Shoot the Boer (which can be translated as: Shoot the white farmer) as well as printed news articles of attacks on white farmers
Ramaphosa distanced himself from the song, said there is free expression in South Africa and that his government’s policy doesn’t align with Malema’s
Golf legends Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, part of the South African delegation, weighed in, saying crime in South Africa was colour-blind
Meanwhile Ramaphosa sought to interest Trump with South Africa’s vast rare earth mining opportunities and the 600 US companies operating in his country
South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen, said the country is focused on fighting crime against farmers but it needed investments and economic progress
Trump remained non-committal when asked if he would attend the G20 summit in South Africa in November, during which the US is due to take the rotating presidency
