Trump Lectures South African President on False Afrikaner Persecution Claim

President Donald Trump stunned observers during a White House meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa by reviving a debunked claim of “genocide” against white Afrikaner farmers.

White Afrikaners represent just 7% of South Africa’s population but still control an estimated 75% of the land. I Photo: GovernmentZA Flickr

Trump even dimmed the lights in the Oval Office to play what he described as video evidence of persecution—claims widely discredited by international observers, The New York Times reporters Erica L. Green and Zolan Kanno-Youngs wrote.

The meeting was already expected to be tense following Trump’s suspension of U.S. aid to South Africa and a controversial exception to his refugee ban that fast-tracks immigration for Afrikaners—while keeping thousands of others locked out.

“We’ve had tremendous complaints about Africa,” Trump said, “from people. They say there’s a lot of bad things going on.”

Ramaphosa pushed back: “There is criminality in our country. People who do get killed, unfortunately through criminal activity, are not only white people. The majority of them are Black people.”

White Afrikaners represent just 7% of South Africa’s population but still control an estimated 75% of the land. The government’s land reform efforts, aimed at addressing this disparity, are supported by many Afrikaners.

However, the issue has been politicized abroad—most notably by Elon Musk, who has echoed claims of anti-white discrimination despite a lack of credible evidence.