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President Donald Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday by playing him a video that he claimed proved genocide is being committed against white people, driving farmers to flee to the United States. 

The unexpected stunt turned the usually staid diplomatic setting of the Oval Office into a stage for Trump’s contention that white South Africans are being persecuted. 

With the media standing by and Ramaphosa at times unable to get a word in, Trump had staff put the video on a large screen, saying it showed black South Africans discussing genocide. 

“They’re white farmers, and they’re fleeing South Africa, and it’s a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don’t want that,” Trump said. 

Ramaphosa repeatedly tried to speak but was drowned out. At one point, he pleaded that they “talk about it very calmly”. 

Relations between the two countries have been strained since Trump signed an executive order in February that claimed white South Africans are the victims of government land confiscation and race-based “genocide”, while admitting some of those Afrikaners as refugees to the United States. Photo / Getty Images 

“We were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems, people need to sit down around the table and talk about them. And this is precisely what we would also like to talk about,” he said. 

The visit by the South African leader was billed as a chance to smooth relations following vociferous – and unfounded – genocide claims by Trump and his billionaire, South African-born ally Elon Musk, who was also in the Oval Office. 

“We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa,” Ramaphosa said. 

He arrived at the White House with two of South Africa’s top golfers, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and the country’s wealthiest man Johann Rupert, in a bid to woo the golf-loving US President. 

The support of the three high-profile Afrikaners in Ramaphosa’s delegation comes days after around 50 Afrikaners arrived in the United States to take up Trump’s offer of “refuge”. 

Trump made the offer despite the United States having halted arrivals of asylum seekers from most of the rest of the world as he cracks down on migration. 

The South African President was also expected to come bearing gifts, with reports that his government would offer Musk a deal to operate his Starlink satellite internet network in the country. 

The Tesla and Space X boss has accused Pretoria of “openly racist” laws, a reference to post-apartheid black empowerment policies seen as a hurdle to the licensing of Starlink. 

Land law row 

Trump’s administration has torn into a series of policies in South Africa since the US President began his second term in office. 

It has slammed South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, cut foreign aid, announced 31% tariffs, and expelled Pretoria’s ambassador after he criticised Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. 

But the biggest issue for Trump and his team has been a South African land expropriation law signed in January that aims to redress the historical inequalities of white minority rule. 

Musk, who has spearheaded Trump’s radical cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), attacked the land laws at the Qatar Economic forum this week. 

“Why are there racist laws in South Africa?” he said. 

Land ownership is a contentious issue in South Africa, with most farmland still owned by white people despite being only 7.3% of the population. 

Ramaphosa has rejected Washington’s assertion that the law will be used to arbitrarily confiscate white-owned land. 

Right-wing Afrikaner lobby groups have claimed that Afrikaans farmers are being murdered in targeted killings, but authorities say this is unfounded. 

Most of the victims of South Africa’s sky-high murder rate are young black men in urban areas, according to police figures. 

-Danny Kemp, Agence France-Presse