At White House, Trump confronts Ramaphosa over persecution of White in South Africa

U.S. President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House on Wednesday with allegations of mass killings and land seizures from white people, in a scene reminiscent of his February ambush of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

South Africa rejects the allegation that white people are disproportionately targeted by crime. Murder rates are high in the country, but the overwhelming majority of victims are Black.

Ramaphosa arrived saying he wanted to discuss trade and critical minerals, and the meeting got off to a cordial start as he and Trump exchanged remarks about golf. Champion South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were present as part of Ramaphosa’s delegation.

But the televised Oval Office meeting soon took a different course, with Trump showing a video and printed articles purporting to show evidence to back up his unfounded claims that white South Africans are being persecuted.

“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they’re being killed,” said Trump in one of a series of accusations.

South Africa, which endured centuries of draconian discrimination against Black people during colonialism and apartheid before becoming a multi-party democracy in 1994 under Nelson Mandela, rejects Trump’s allegations.

A new land reform law, aimed at redressing the injustices of apartheid, allows for expropriations without compensation when in the public interest, for example if land is lying fallow. No such expropriation has taken place, and any order can be challenged in court.

The video shown by Trump showed white crosses which Trump said were the graves of thousands of white people, and opposition leaders making incendiary speeches. Trump suggested that one of them, Julius Malema, should be arrested.

Reuters