President Trump pulled South African President Cyril Ramaphosa into an extended and at times tense debate about claims of “genocide” against white farmers in the country, playing a video in the Oval Office to support his allegations.
The otherwise cordial meeting began to devolve after a reporter asked Trump what it would take to convince him there is no “genocide” targeting white farmers, as the president and other allies have claimed. Ramaphosa jumped in to say it would take Trump listening to the voices and perspectives of native South Africans, including some who joined him on the U.S. trip.
Trump then motioned for an aide to queue up a video, a sign that he and his team were prepared to defend their controversial claims. The roughly four-minute video, which the White House later shared on X, included clips of South Africans saying “kill the farmer” and chanting about shooting Afrikaners.
“This is very bad. These are burial sites right here… over a thousand of white farmers and those cars are lined up to pay love on Sunday morning, each one of those white things you see are a cross. There’s approximately a thousand of them, they’re all white farmers,” Trump said during a part of the video.
“I’d like to know where that is. Because this I’ve never seen,” Ramaphosa said of the burial sites.
Ramaphosa pushed back on Trump’s assertions that white farmers were having their land taken away and being killed. He acknowledged there was “criminality” in the country, but he noted that a majority of victims of crime in South Africa were Black.
South African Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen, who is white, spoke during the meeting to denounce the language in the video. He said that the individuals from the clips are leaders of the opposition parties in South Africa and said the Ramaphosa government has made an effort to keep them out of power.
“It’s more than just a little movement, it’s a pretty big movement in South Africa. So, it has to be resolved. It will be the end of the country if it’s not resolved,” Trump said after Steenhuisen’s comments, arguing that the video featured people speaking at “a stadium with a hundred thousand people in it.”
“I’m not here for my health. I’m here to see if we can do something,” the president added.
A reporter in the Oval Office asked what Trump would like the South African president to do about the situation.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. Look, these are articles over the last few days. Death of people,” Trump said, going through online news articles printed out on paper. “Death. Death… white South Africans are fleeing because of the violence and racist laws.”
Ramaphosa replied, “Our government policy is completely, completely against what you were saying, even in the parliament. And they’re a small minority party which is allowed to exist, in terms of our constitution.”
At one point, Trump also mentioned that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is from South Africa, suggesting he didn’t want to drag Musk into the debate while the billionaire stood in the Oval Office behind Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Additionally, the president blamed the media for not reporting on South Africa, mentioning that a NBC reporter asked about the Qatari airplane gift to Trump after the video was played instead of asking about the Afrikaner “genocide.”
“I’m sorry I don’t have a plane to give you,” Ramaphosa said and he laughed.
“I wish you did, I’d take it,” Trump said. “If your country offered the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it.”
Ramaphosa came to the meeting with a plan to try and assuage Trump’s concerns and appeal to him on a personal level, bringing with him famous South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. Trump is known to be a big golf fan and a frequent player and referred to both as friends.
Els appealed to Trump about the importance of the U.S. as an ally for South Africa, with Trump praising his remarks.
Trump has fixated on South Africa in recent months over claims that Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority, have been unfairly targeted. The president signed an executive order in February pausing foreign assistance to South Africa over claims that the government there “radically disfavored landowners.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration welcomed a plane carrying 49 Afrikaners granted refugee status. The move raised eyebrows given the administration’s wider pause of the refugee program and crackdown on immigration.
South African officials have rejected the Trump administration’s claims, saying there is no evidence of genocide or persecution of Afrikaners in the country.
Before playing the video, Trump was asked why Afrikaners are prioritized while the refugee status of Afghans, Venezuelans and others were revoked – a topic that the administration has defended since the program launched.
“When you say we don’t take others, all you have to do is take a look at the southern border… they came from all over the world. In many cases, they’re criminals,” the president said. “Don’t say that we didn’t take them. We’re trying to get them out as fast as we can.”
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