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Trump baselessly alleges mass killings of white South

Africans

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Ramaphosa and allies seek to counter Trump claims

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South Africa denies white citizens are persecuted

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Billionaire Rupert backs Ramaphosa

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Ramaphosa in Washington seeking to mend US ties

(Adds possible impact on future foreign leader visits,

paragraph 24)

By Nandita Bose and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on

Wednesday with explosive false claims of white genocide and land

seizures during a tense White House meeting that was reminiscent

of his February ambush of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the

world, but the overwhelming majority of victims are Black.

Ramaphosa had hoped to use Wednesday's meeting to reset his

country's relationship with the U.S., after Trump canceled

much-needed aid to South Africa, offered refuge to white

minority Afrikaners, expelled the country's ambassador and

criticized its genocide court case against Israel.

The South African president arrived prepared for an

aggressive reception, bringing popular white South African

golfers as part of his delegation and saying he wanted to

discuss trade. The U.S. is South Africa's second-biggest trading

partner, and the country is facing a 30% tariff under Trump's

currently suspended raft of import taxes.

But in a carefully choreographed Oval Office onslaught,

Trump pounced, moving quickly to a list of concerns about the

treatment of white South Africans, which he punctuated by

playing a video and leafing through a stack of printed news

articles that he said proved his allegations.

With the lights turned down at Trump's request, the video -

played on a television that is not normally set up in the Oval

Office - showed white crosses, which Trump asserted were the

graves of white people, and opposition leaders making incendiary

speeches. Trump suggested one of them, Julius Malema, should be

arrested.

The video was made in September 2020 during a protest after

two people were killed on their farm a week earlier. The crosses

did not mark actual graves. An organizer of the protest told

South Africa's public broadcaster at the time that they

represented farmers who had been killed over the years.

"We have many people that feel they're being persecuted, and

they're coming to the United States," Trump said. "So we take

from many ... locations, if we feel there's persecution or

genocide going on," he added, referring specifically to white

farmers.

"People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their

land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they're being

killed," the president added, echoing a once-fringe conspiracy

theory that has circulated in global far-right chat rooms for at

least a decade with the vocal support of Trump's ally, South

African-born Elon Musk, who was in the Oval Office during the

meeting.

South Africa, which endured centuries of draconian

discrimination against Black people during colonialism and

apartheid before becoming a multi-party democracy in 1994 under

Nelson Mandela, rejects Trump's allegations.

A new land reform law, aimed at redressing the injustices of

apartheid, allows for expropriations without compensation when

in the public interest, for example if land is lying fallow. No

such expropriation has taken place, and any order can be

challenged in court.

South African police recorded 26,232 murders nationwide in

2024, with 44 linked to farming communities. Eight of those

victims were farmers.

Ramaphosa, sitting in a chair next to Trump and remaining

poised, pushed back against his claims.

"If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you,

these three gentlemen would not be here," Ramaphosa said,

referring to golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and billionaire

Johann Rupert, all white, who were present in the room.

That did not satisfy Trump.

"We have thousands of stories talking about it, and we have

documentaries, we have news stories," Trump said. "It has to be

responded to."

'THERE IS JUST NO GENOCIDE'

Ramaphosa mostly sat expressionless during the video

presentation, occasionally craning his neck to look at the

screen. He said he had not seen the material before and that he

would like to find out the location.

Trump then displayed printed copies of articles that he said

showed white South Africans who had been killed, saying "death,

death" as he flipped through them, eventually handing them to

his counterpart.

Ramaphosa said there was crime in South Africa, and the

majority of victims were Black. Trump cut him off and said: "The

farmers are not Black."

Ramaphosa responded: "These are concerns we are willing to

talk to you about."

The South African president cited Mandela's example as a

peacemaker, but that did not move the U.S. president, whose

political base includes white nationalists. The myth of white

genocide in South Africa has become a rallying point for the far

right in the United States and elsewhere.

"I will say: apartheid, terrible," Trump noted. "This is

sort of the opposite of apartheid."

The extraordinary exchange, three months after Trump and

Vice President JD Vance upbraided Ukraine's Zelenskiy inside the

same Oval Office, could prompt foreign leaders to think twice

about accepting Trump's invitations and risk public

embarrassment.

Unlike Zelenskiy, who sparred with Trump and ended up

leaving early, the South African leader kept his calm, praising

Trump's decor - the president has outfitted the Oval Office with

gold accessories - and saying he looked forward to handing over

the presidency of the Group of 20 next year.

Trump declined to say whether he would attend the G20

meeting in South Africa in November.

Later in the meeting, Rupert, the business tycoon, stepped

in to back up Ramaphosa, saying that crime was a problem across

the board and many Black people were dying too.

Following the meeting, Ramaphosa sought to focus on trade,

telling reporters the two countries had agreed to discuss

critical minerals in South Africa. His trade minister said the

government had submitted a trade and investment proposal that

included buying liquefied natural gas from the U.S.

But the president also flatly denied Trump's allegations

about a wave of racial violence against white farmers.

"There is just no genocide in South Africa," he said.