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Ramaphosa-Trump White House meetings start at 1530 GMT

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Trump has criticised South Africa, cut aid, expelled envoy

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Pretoria rejects his attacks as inaccurate, insensitive

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Ramaphosa takes two pro golfers and a billionaire with him

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Deals on offer for Musk, who is also expected to attend

(Adds details on Trump, Ramaphosa delegation members,

paragraphs 5-8)

By Nellie Peyton and Nandita Bose

JOHANNESBURG/WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - South

African President Cyril Ramaphosa heads to the White House on

Wednesday on a perilous mission to persuade a hostile Donald

Trump to make deals with his country rather than scold and

punish it as he has done since the start of his second term.

Attacking South Africa's land reform law aimed at redressing

the injustices of apartheid and its genocide court case against

Israel, Trump has cancelled aid to the country, expelled its

ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based

on racial discrimination claims Pretoria says are unfounded.

"Whether we like it or not, we are joined at the hip and we

need to be talking to them," Ramaphosa said on South African

state television before flying to Washington to meet President

Trump.

The stakes are high for South Africa. The United States is

its second-biggest trading partner after China, and the aid cut

has already resulted in a drop in testing for HIV patients.

Ramaphosa goes into his meetings with Trump, scheduled to

start at 1530 GMT, bearing offers of trade deals and investment

opportunities, and accompanied by ministers, luxury goods tycoon

Johann Rupert and champion golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

On Trump's side will be Vice President JD Vance, South

African-born billionaire Elon Musk -- who has accused Ramaphosa

of pursuing anti-white policies, which he denies -- and senior

figures from the U.S. government.

Responding to speculation in South Africa that a

shouting match similar to the clash between Trump and Ukraine's

Volodymyr Zelenskiy on February 28 was a risk, Ramaphosa's

spokesperson said "Zelenskiy-style treatment" was not expected.

"The issues are different, the leaders are different,"

he told News24, a leading South African website.

GOLF CONNECTIONS

South African billionaire Rupert, founder of the

Richemont luxury goods group that owns brands like Cartier and

an important investor in his home country, helped bring about

Ramaphosa's meeting with Trump, South African media reported.

Els, a former world number one golfer and four-times

major champion, also played a part, according to the reports.

Both men have played golf with Trump. Neither responded

to requests for comment.

Ramaphosa will offer Trump a broad trade deal, as well

as specific deals such as duty-free access for Musk's Tesla

electric vehicles in exchange for the firm building charging

stations, and potential licensing for Musk's Starlink company.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who is in

Ramaphosa's delegation, said he was focused on securing and

expanding South African farmers' duty-free access to the U.S.

market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

AGOA is at risk from Trump's tariff regime, which is

currently suspended but would hit South Africa with a 30% duty

if enacted.

For his part, Trump is likely to demand that U.S. companies

are exempted from "racial requirements", a White House official

said.

South Africa has laws to compel businesses to hire and

promote Black South Africans, including a requirement for large

companies in some sectors, such as mining and telecoms, to have

a 30% equity stake held by disadvantaged groups.

Ramaphosa is unlikely to agree to weaken such rules, which

are core to his government's aspiration to restore racial

justice after centuries of colonialism and apartheid.

APARTHEID LEGACY

"There are political problems here that lie at the heart of

the breakdown in the relationship," said Joshua Meservey, senior

fellow at conservative U.S. think tank the Hudson Institute,

cautioning that deal-making may not be enough to overcome them.

Trump has accused South Africa of seizing land from white

farmers and of fuelling disproportionate violence against white

landowners with "hateful rhetoric and government actions".

Pretoria says these claims are inaccurate and "fail to

recognise South Africa's profound and painful history".

Crime statistics show no evidence that white people are

disproportionately targeted. A land reform law allows judicial

challenges to any expropriation orders, which can only be issued

in the public interest. No expropriation has taken place.

White people, who make up about 7% of South Africa's

population, are still richer than the Black majority by every

economic measure and still own three quarters of the country's

freehold farmland.

Ramaphosa is an experienced negotiator, having headed the

African National Congress's team during the 1990s talks that led

to apartheid's peaceful end. He also built a successful

investment vehicle before becoming president in 2018.

(Additional reporting by Siyanda Mthethwa and Tim Cocks in

Johannesburg and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Writing by

Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Ed Osmond)