United States President Donald Trump reignited controversy over South Africa’s land reform policy and racial tensions during an Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, raising disputed claims of White persecution and farmer killings.
The meeting, initially billed as a diplomatic engagement to deepen U.S.-South Africa trade relations, took an unexpected turn after Trump showcased a pre-recorded video that included contentious imagery of opposition leader Julius Malema chanting “kill the Boer” and fields of white crosses allegedly representing murdered White farmers.
“This is what’s happening. You’re taking people’s land away from them and those people in many cases are being executed,” Trump said during the broadcast.
He was accompanied by Vice President JD Vance and billionaire backer Elon Musk, both of whom have echoed the White minority persecution narrative in recent months.
The footage, which aligned with the long-disputed theory of a White farmer genocide in South Africa, marked a significant escalation of rhetoric and a departure from standard protocol.
According to sources, the original plan for a closed-door session was altered without prior notice, placing Ramaphosa in front of press cameras with the television screen pre-arranged to play the footage.
“This was definitely an ambush,” said South African Presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya. “The video and the articles presented had no credibility. The meeting format was changed at the last minute, clearly to serve a specific agenda.”
Ramaphosa, who assumed office in 2018 and has led initiatives to address historical land inequalities, responded diplomatically. “Of course there is no genocide in South Africa,” he said, dismissing Trump’s comparison of his country’s current policy to apartheid.
Ramaphosa stressed that no land seizures have occurred without due process and emphasized that violent farm attacks account for a minor portion of the nation’s overall crime rate.
Statistics South Africa reports that over 27,000 murders occur annually in the country, with the majority of victims being young Black males in impoverished areas.
Farm-related killings have been on a declining trend over the last two decades. Meanwhile, data also shows that White individuals—who make up roughly 7% of the population—still control over 70% of individually-owned farmland.
Despite Ramaphosa’s efforts to steer the discussion toward bilateral trade and cooperation, the exchange highlighted Washington’s growing alignment with fringe advocacy groups such as AfriForum.
Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, acknowledged similarities between the video played by Trump and the group’s own materials but denied asserting that a genocide is taking place.
“There is a valid concern about property rights and racially discriminatory policies,” Kriel stated, defending the focus of the video. However, he clarified that the group has not acted on Trump’s earlier offer to provide refugee status to White South Africans.
The U.S. administration recently granted asylum to a group of White Afrikaners, citing alleged state persecution and racial violence.
The development follows Trump’s decision to suspend most aid to South Africa in February, accusing the country of taking adversarial positions toward Washington and backing legal actions against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Financial markets reacted to the unexpected Oval Office confrontation, with the South African rand weakening by 0.1% to 17.9450 per dollar by 8:25 p.m. in Johannesburg, reversing earlier gains.
In a post-meeting briefing, Ramaphosa maintained a conciliatory stance. “We had constructive discussions behind closed doors,” he said, expressing hope that diplomatic engagements would continue ahead of the G-20 summit scheduled for Johannesburg in November.
Trump’s public statements and use of visual propaganda have drawn criticism from human rights observers and diplomatic analysts, who warn that framing South Africa’s complex land reform efforts as racially motivated violence distorts facts and inflames divisions.
South Africa’s Expropriation Bill, signed into law by Ramaphosa last year, permits land acquisition in the public interest, including instances of abandoned or unused state-owned land. Officials say the policy is modeled on international standards similar to U.S. eminent domain practices and does not authorize arbitrary or racially targeted seizures.
Observers say the Oval Office encounter mirrors a pattern of politically motivated confrontations, similar to Trump’s prior interaction with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
In both instances, carefully orchestrated settings were used to press controversial narratives rather than foster diplomatic engagement.
“From here onwards, we will deal with substantive issues,” Magwenya said. “They’ve made their point, and we are now focused on maintaining the integrity of the South Africa-U.S. relationship.”
As of press time, the White House had not issued further statements on the meeting, although the official X (formerly Twitter) account posted a clip of the exchange with the caption: “President Trump always brings the receipts.”
The meeting underscores the geopolitical tension underlying Trump’s foreign policy messaging, which critics argue is increasingly shaped by ideological alignment with right-wing domestic groups and their narratives.
