U.S.–South Africa relations faced renewed strain on Wednesday as President Donald Trump hosted President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House for a high-stakes meeting aimed at mending ties after months of escalating tensions. The encounter, intended to reset diplomatic relations, was overshadowed by Trump’s controversial claim that a “genocide” is being carried out against white Afrikaner farmers in South Africa—an allegation widely dismissed by analysts, civil society groups, and many Afrikaner communities themselves.
Ramaphosa, seeking to salvage bilateral relations—now at their lowest point since the end of apartheid in 1994—pushed back against the accusation. He highlighted that Afrikaners serve in his administration, including Agriculture Minister John Henry Steenhuisen, noting “If there were a genocide against Afrikaner farmers, these three gentlemen would not be here.”
However, Trump remained unconvinced. He reportedly ordered the lights dimmed in the Oval Office and had a television wheeled in to show a video compilation of farmland violence and clips of a radical fringe politician singing the controversial anti-apartheid song, “Shoot the Boer.” “It’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said after the video, citing unnamed reports and documentaries. Despite the tense exchange, Ramaphosa later joined Trump for lunch and downplayed the discord “I thought it went very well,” he told reporters afterward.
The meeting comes amid a diplomatic chill sparked by the Trump administration’s refugee policy, which in 2024 granted asylum to 59 white South Africans, citing “racial persecution.” South Africa strongly rejected the claim and urged its white farming community not to emigrate. Ramaphosa’s visit was part of a broader effort to repair ties, encourage trade, and counter a narrative that South Africa’s land reform and racial equity efforts amount to ethnic persecution. The U.S. has also boycotted some G20 events hosted by South Africa over its neutral stance on the Israel-Gaza war and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Though symbolic gestures were exchanged, observers noted that the meeting exposed deeper ideological rifts, particularly over race, migration, and foreign policy in an increasingly multipolar global order.
