The US President had repeatedly accused the government in Pretoria a “genocide” on the descendants of white colonialists who had immigrated to South Africa from the 17th century – mostly from the Netherlands, but partly also from Germany. Trump took up the conspiracy theory of a “white genocide”. Trump’s government had taken around 50 white South Africans last week as “refugees”.
Trump played Ramaphosa video recordings that are supposed to take his allegations. Many graves of white farmers can be seen on this, the US President claimed. In fact, the recordings come from Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as a fact check from the AFP news agency showed. Trump also showed a number of articles about “death, death, death”.
Ramaphosa reacted prudently to Trump’s Tirade and replied that the statements and recordings do not correspond to the official government policy. “We learned from Nelson Mandela that people always have to sit at a table and talk about it when there are problems,” said the South African head of state. In the past, Trump had compared himself to the black anti-Apartheid fighter and later South African President Mandela because of his numerous judicial problems.
Trump’s appearance in front of numerous reporters recalled the reception of the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj in the White House at the end of February. At that time there was a scandal because Trump and Vice President JD Vance Selenskyj accused lack of respect and gratitude. The encounter culminated from the White House in the Ukrainian President of the Ukrainian President.
Ramaphosa seemed prepared. He thanked Trump for the delivery of ventilation devices to South Africa during the Corona pandemic, gave him a 14 kilogram book with pictures of South African golf courses and brought professional golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen into the White House.
The South African President called Trump for a “new beginning” in the relationships between the two countries. His government fears that the high unemployment in South Africa continues to increase through Trump’s customs policy. Ramaphosa is the first African politician that the US President invited in his second term.
Trump justifies his allegations against Ramaphosa with a law that enables the government in Pretoria in certain cases to expropriate white farmers without compensation. In the conflict, the Trump government frozen the help for South Africa in February. In March, the United States also showed the South African ambassador.
The white descendants of mostly Dutch settlers in South Africa are also privileged three decades after the end of apartheid. The white minority only includes around seven percent of the population, but still has a large part of the country.
Before his departure from the United States, Ramaphosa was satisfied despite the confrontation: the meeting with Trump was “very good”, he said.
