Tensions Flare as Trump Confronts Ramaphosa with ‘White Genocide’ Claim in Oval Office Meeting

 Washington, D.C. – May 22:In a tense and highly unorthodox Oval Office exchange on Wednesday, former U.S. President Donald Trump played a controversial video for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, claiming it proved white South Africans were facing “the opposite of apartheid” and were victims of a “genocide.” The incident disrupted what was initially billed as a diplomatic meeting aimed at “resetting” bilateral ties.

The confrontation, described by observers as one of the most strained Oval Office encounters since Trump’s interactions with former Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, came as Ramaphosa sought to repair deteriorating relations between the two nations.

Trump has long insisted that Afrikaners, the white minority in South Africa descended largely from Dutch colonists, are being systematically targeted. South African authorities and independent analysts have consistently refuted the claim, pointing instead to the country’s high crime rates that disproportionately affect Black citizens.

“Turn the Lights Down and Just Put This On”

The meeting began cordially, with light-hearted remarks about golf, but tensions quickly escalated when Ramaphosa refuted the genocide narrative. “There is no genocide against Afrikaners,” the South African president stated.

In response, Trump ordered his staff, “Turn the lights down and just put this on,” queuing up a video that included footage of former South African President Jacob Zuma and opposition leader Julius Malema singing the liberation-era song Kill the Boer, a phrase historically associated with anti-apartheid resistance. The video played as Ramaphosa sat beside Trump, visibly composed but wary, while a group that included Elon Musk, JD Vance, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and diplomats from both countries looked on.

Ramaphosa pushed back diplomatically, clarifying that the video’s content did not reflect official policy: “The views expressed in the video are not government policy,” he said.

A Contentious Narrative

Trump persisted with his claims during the televised exchange. “Now I will say, apartheid: terrible. That was the biggest threat. That was reported all the time. This is sort of the opposite of apartheid,” he said. “They’re white farmers, and they’re fleeing South Africa, and it’s a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don’t want that.”

He further alleged, without evidence: “You do allow them to take land – and then when they take the land, they kill the white farmer, and when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them … They’re being executed and they happen to be white.”

NAACP President Derrick Johnson strongly condemned Trump’s remarks, calling them divisive and inflammatory. “There’s no limit to how far Donald Trump will go to divide people on the basis of race. It’s frankly disgusting … shameful and appalling,” he said.

Ramaphosa’s Composure and Clarification

Despite the provocations, Ramaphosa remained composed, invoking the spirit of South Africa’s democratic legacy. “We were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems, people need to sit down around the table and talk about them,” he told Trump. “And this is precisely what we would also like to talk about.”

The South African leader was accompanied by Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, top golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and billionaire Johann Rupert — an entourage that aimed to appeal to Trump’s known interests. Rupert emphasized the broader security challenges in South Africa: “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.”

Musk, who has criticized South Africa’s Black empowerment laws as “openly racist,” was reportedly offered a deal to operate his Starlink satellite internet service in the country.

Geopolitical Strains and Policy Flashpoints

The bilateral relationship has come under significant strain in recent months. The U.S. has slashed aid, imposed a 31% tariff on imports from South Africa, and expelled the South African ambassador following Pretoria’s criticism of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. Washington has also condemned South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

At the center of the controversy is South Africa’s new land expropriation law, passed in January, which seeks to address land ownership disparities rooted in apartheid. Ramaphosa firmly denied that the law enables arbitrary confiscation of white-owned land, stressing that “all South Africans are protected by the constitution.”

A Diplomatic Denouement

Later in the day, Ramaphosa and Trump continued their discussions in a more private setting, including a working lunch attended by Musk. Addressing reporters at a press conference afterward, Ramaphosa rejected any comparison between current conditions in South Africa and the apartheid era.

“There’s just no genocide in South Africa,” he said. “Of course, it is an issue of how one looks at it. As they say, sometimes the shape of the mountain depends on which point or direction you’re looking at it. In this case we cannot equate what is alleged to be genocide to what we went through in the struggle because people were killed, because of the oppression that was taking place in our country.”

He concluded on a cautiously optimistic note, revealing that Trump may not be fully convinced by the genocide narrative despite airing the video. “When he was asked … whether he was convinced that there was genocide, he says no, he’s not convinced … I do believe that there’s doubt and disbelief in his head about all this.”