Ramaphosa and his delegation seemed stunned when Trump asked for a video clip showing alleged white farmers' graves in SA. Ramaphosa mostly sat expressionless while the video was played, occasionally craning his neck to look at it. Ramaphosa could be heard asking Ronald Lamola, minister of international relations and cooperation, who sat next to him, if he knew the location of graves in SA, but Lamola just shrugged his shoulders.
He told Trump he had not seen the video before, and that he would like to find out what the location was.
Ramaphosa said there was crime in SA, and that the majority of victims were black. Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not black. And it’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it. On both sides of the road, you have crosses [of graves]. Those people were all killed. White South Africans are fleeing because of the violence and racist laws.”
Ramaphosa responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about...Our constitution guarantees and protects the sanctity of land ownership, and that constitution protects all South Africans with regard to land ownership.”
Else, who stood behind Ramaphosa, said crime was ravaging SA and that there was still a lot of hatred in the country and America should get involved to fight these problems. “It is very important to have your support and we want to see things get better in our country and that is the bottom line. It's been 30 years since the transition [from apartheid] and I understand that there is still a lot of anger... but two wrongs don't make a right,” said Else.
Meanwhile, his counterpart Goosen said although crime affected everyone in SA, the farmers were continuously being targeted. He made an example of his family farm in Limpopo where there was once an attack. He said they had to increase security to block criminals.
Rupert said SA needs technological help in stopping deaths in the country, which he said were not just of white farmers but across the board.” We have too many deaths... It's not only white farmers, it's across the board, and we need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones.”
Responding to the video, Malema wrote on X: “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.”
SowetanLIVE
WATCH | Ramaphosa rolls out his charm offensive to dispel white genocide claims
Malema's 'Kill the Boer' chant takes centre-stage
Image: Chip Somodevilla
President Cyril Ramaphosa rolled out a high-powered delegation including business mogul Johann Rupert and two champion SA golfers in his charm offensive to mend broken relations between the US and SA which have taken a nosedive in recent months.
The much-awaited meeting between Ramaphosa and US president Donald Trump started on a cordial note with Trump complementing SA golfers Ernie Else and Retief Goosen, who formed part of Ramaphosa’s team.
Ramaphosa said he wanted to talk about critical minerals and trade. But the meeting soon took a turn with the false narrative of the genocide taking centre-stage, with Trump confronting Ramaphosa with claims that white Afrikaner farmers were being targeted and killed in SA.
In recent months, Trump has criticised SA's land reform law aimed at redressing the injustices of apartheid and its genocide court case against Israel. He has cancelled aid, expelled SA's ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims which Pretoria says are unfounded.
Trump ambushed Ramaphosa with a video of EFF leader Julius Malema chanting the “Kill the Boer” song. Trump said the video was evidence of the so-called white genocide in SA.
President Cyril Ramaphosa managed to disarm US President Donald Trump with his usual charm offensive, albeit with the help of his delegation. #News #southafrica www.timeslive.co.za
However, Ramaphosa dismissed the video and said Malema represented a minority political party and that his views were not government policy.
“Let me clarify that. What you saw, the speeches that were being made, one, that is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves... Some of those policies do not go along with government policy,” said Ramaphosa.
But this seem to fall on Trump's deaf ears as he repeatedly said, “we have thousands of white South Africans who want to come to America because they are being targeted”.
Trump also brought news article clips with story of the alleged “genocide”, which he handed to Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa and his delegation seemed stunned when Trump asked for a video clip showing alleged white farmers' graves in SA. Ramaphosa mostly sat expressionless while the video was played, occasionally craning his neck to look at it. Ramaphosa could be heard asking Ronald Lamola, minister of international relations and cooperation, who sat next to him, if he knew the location of graves in SA, but Lamola just shrugged his shoulders.
He told Trump he had not seen the video before, and that he would like to find out what the location was.
Ramaphosa said there was crime in SA, and that the majority of victims were black. Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not black. And it’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it. On both sides of the road, you have crosses [of graves]. Those people were all killed. White South Africans are fleeing because of the violence and racist laws.”
Ramaphosa responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about...Our constitution guarantees and protects the sanctity of land ownership, and that constitution protects all South Africans with regard to land ownership.”
Else, who stood behind Ramaphosa, said crime was ravaging SA and that there was still a lot of hatred in the country and America should get involved to fight these problems. “It is very important to have your support and we want to see things get better in our country and that is the bottom line. It's been 30 years since the transition [from apartheid] and I understand that there is still a lot of anger... but two wrongs don't make a right,” said Else.
Meanwhile, his counterpart Goosen said although crime affected everyone in SA, the farmers were continuously being targeted. He made an example of his family farm in Limpopo where there was once an attack. He said they had to increase security to block criminals.
Rupert said SA needs technological help in stopping deaths in the country, which he said were not just of white farmers but across the board.” We have too many deaths... It's not only white farmers, it's across the board, and we need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones.”
Responding to the video, Malema wrote on X: “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.”
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