An Oval Office meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa descended into confrontation on May 21, after Trump presented video footage and news clippings alleging a “white genocide” targeting Afrikaner farmers in South Africa. The footage included opposition leader Julius Malema chanting “Shoot the Boer,” and a protest display of crosses that Trump mischaracterized as farmer graves.

Trump said, “These people are being killed, their land confiscated… it’s a terrible sight,” and suggested that Afrikaners were being persecuted to the point of refugee flight. His administration recently granted asylum to nearly 60 white South Africans and slashed aid to Pretoria.

Ramaphosa: “There Is No Genocide in South Africa”

Ramaphosa remained composed, firmly rejecting Trump’s claims. “There is just no genocide in South Africa,” he told the press, underscoring that crime affects all South Africans, and the controversial land reform laws were not racially targeted. “What you saw… that is not government policy,” he said, referencing the Malema footage.

He pointed to the white members of his delegation—golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and billionaire Johann Rupert—to stress racial inclusion. “If there was a genocide, these three gentlemen would not be here,” he said.

Delegation Counters Trump Narrative

South Africa’s Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen acknowledged the country’s “real safety problem” but rejected Trump’s portrayal. “The majority of South Africa’s commercial and smallholder farmers really do want to stay,” he said. Rupert highlighted that black and mixed-race South Africans in township areas suffer some of the worst gang violence in the country.

Zingiswa Losi, president of the country’s largest trade union, emphasized that crime, not race, is the core issue: “You will see women, elderly, being raped, being killed, being murdered… the problem in South Africa, it is not necessarily about race, but it is about crime.”

Afrikaner Right Celebrates Trump’s Intervention

Trump’s remarks were cheered by Afrikaner nationalist groups. Ernst Roets of the Solidarity Movement praised Trump for “making history,” while Jaco Kleynhans called for a Nobel Prize for drawing global attention to farm murders. Pieter du Toit, a leading political analyst, criticized these groups for exaggerating claims and feeding misinformation into U.S. right-wing circles.

Strategic Calm and Diplomatic Fallout

Despite the tensions, Ramaphosa used the meeting to advocate for renewed trade cooperation under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), set to expire later this year. Analysts speculated that Trump’s narrative might be used to pressure South Africa’s stance at the International Court of Justice, where Pretoria has filed a genocide case against Israel.

Former U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard described the encounter as “a trap” meant to humiliate South Africa, while Malema mocked the event as “a group of older men gossiping about me.”