South Africa's Ramaphosa at the White House: Denies 'White Genocide' Claim Face to Face in the Oval Office
On May 21, 2025, South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House in Washington, D.C., for a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The meeting was broadcast to the press. Ramaphosa said he had come to reset relations between the two countries and advance trade talks; his delegation included several South African ministers, champion golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and businessman Johann Rupert.
The meeting began cordially with talk of golf and South African courses. Ramaphosa said the two sides had been empowered to begin trade-level discussions, that his purpose was to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa, and that the two countries would also discuss expanding investment in both directions, noting that about 22 South African companies have invested in the United States and created jobs. He also raised the Group of 20: South Africa would host the G20 summit in November 2025 and then hand the presidency over to the United States.
During questions from reporters, Trump raised claims that white South African farmers face persecution, saying many white farmers were fleeing South Africa and that the United States had taken in a number of them. He then had staff dim the Oval Office lights and played a video compilation on a television, including remarks by South African opposition figure Julius Malema and clips of a controversial song. Trump also presented news clippings, saying land was being taken and white farmers killed with no consequences.
Ramaphosa answered on the spot: the views in the video belonged to a small South African party, South African government policy was completely against what was being said, and the party was a small minority party allowed to exist under the constitution; land could not simply be taken. He said South Africa does have criminality, and that those killed include both Black and white South Africans; if there were an Afrikaner farmer genocide, he said, the three white gentlemen beside him, including Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, would not be there. He said it would take Trump listening to South Africans' own stories and perspectives.
In a lighter moment, Ramaphosa joked that he was sorry he did not have a plane to give; Trump replied that he wished he did, and that if South Africa offered the U.S. Air Force a plane, he would take it.
Asked by a reporter whether he was convinced genocide was occurring in South Africa, Trump said he had not made up his mind. At the midday greeting, Trump also told reporters that his 'Big, Beautiful Bill' was doing very well and was very close, and that his meeting the day before with Louis M. Prevost, brother of Pope Leo XIV, had been great. (Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年5月21日，特朗普与南非总统拉马福萨在白宫椭圆形办公室会晤。白宫官方照片，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: President Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office on May 21, 2025. Official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
