WASHINGTON — What started as a friendly first meeting between President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa quickly devolved after a reporter asked Trump about the U.S. decision to admit white South Africans as refugees.
Trump baselessly claimed that there was a genocide against white people in South Africa, which Ramaphosa and other South Africans have vigorously denied.
Wednesday’s heated meeting marks the latest in a string of unusually tense Oval Office meetings with foreign leaders. It comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and South Africa over claims by Trump and Elon Musk about the country's racial equity laws, which prompted the U.S. to recently admit white South African refugees — while barring refugees from other countries.
Musk, who was born in South Africa, has gone further, repeatedly claiming there is a genocide against white people in the country — comments that Trump eventually began echoing.
After reporters asked about his genocide claims, Trump paused to play a montage of clips that he argued backed up his claims on a television in the room.
Ramaphosa responded to the montage, which included videos of people talking about "cutting the throat" and shooting white people, saying that the comments in the videos are "not government policy." Later, South Africa's minister of agriculture said that multiple people included in the montage were part of minority parties that are not in the country's ruling coalition.
"We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves," he said.
Asked whether he denounced the language in the video, Ramaphosa said, "Oh, yes."
When asked by NBC News earlier in the meeting about the White House's decision to admit white South Africans, Trump claimed that "a lot of people are very concerned with regard to South Africa."
"We take from many, many locations, if we feel there's persecution or genocide going on," Trump said.
Musk joined Wednesday’s meeting alongside several Cabinet officials. Musk has been a staunch critic of his birth country.
Trump and Musk have claimed that the Afrikaners, white descendants of Dutch and French settlers, were targets of a "genocide" — even though there is no data to support it. The administration admitted 59 white South Africans as refugees this month after they claimed they were fleeing violence and discrimination. South African leaders have fiercely disputed the genocide claims.
"We all know as South Africans, both Black and white, that there's no genocide here," Ramaphosa said last week in a video clip on X. "We are not genocidal. We are not committing any act of hatred, act of retribution or violence against anyone."
The leaders' Oval Office meeting kicked off with Trump saying that Ramaphosa was "a little bit less respected" by some.
"He is a man who is, certainly, in some circles, really respected," Trump said of Ramaphosa. "Other circles, a little bit less respected, like all of us, in all fairness."
Ramaphosa responded, "We’re all like that," laughing.
There were 12 murders on farms last year, The Associated Press reported, citing police statistics. One of the victims was a farmer, and the rest were farmworkers, none of whom were identified by race, according to the AP. White farmers own roughly three-quarters of South Africa’s privately owned land, according to government data.
The White House has also criticized South Africa's 2024 Expropriation Act, which allows the government, in some cases, to seize unused land without compensation or when there is public interest in redistributing it (a process similar to eminent domain laws in the United States).
Ramaphosa said in February that his government has not confiscated land.
"The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution," he said on X.
Still, the White House claimed that the law was a "shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights" and alleged that it followed actions "fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners."
Afrikaners ruled the country during the apartheid regime, which ended in 1994. During apartheid rule, Afrikaners enforced racial segregation and confiscated land from Black residents.
Musk has also claimed that Starlink, his satellite internet service, is "not allowed to operate in South Africa, because I’m not Black." Starlink would need certain licenses to operate in the country, and South Africa has regulations designed to ensure that a portion of foreign-owned telecommunications licenses are sold to historically disadvantaged groups.
The U.S. and South Africa have also butted heads over the Israel-Hamas war, after South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. South Africa is leading a case in the United Nations' International Court of Justice.
The White House referred to the genocide allegations in Trump's February executive order centering on Afrikaner refugees, saying that "South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies."
