From Golf Talk to a “Documentary” Screening: Inside President Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump’s White House Meeting

Ramaphosa, accompanied by cabinet ministers and select dignitaries, had stated that this would be an opportunity to reset relations with the U.S., especially with regard to trade, but a major part of the press conference centered on Trump’s obsession with the already debunked “white genocide” claims in South Africa.

During the press conference, Trump directed attention to a TV screen that showed a clip of South African opposition leader Julius Malema leading a "Kill the Boer" chant at a political rally. (Boer means farmer, and has come to mean white Afrikaners.) The chant originates from "Dubul' ibhunu," an isiZulu and isiXhosa struggle song that emerged in the 1980s in opposition to decades of apartheid rule. Malema, leader of the minority Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, has employed the chant to call for the radical liberation of South Africa's majority Black population.

Trump showed the documentary video clip as proof that the South African government is land-grabbing and condoning the alleged mass killings of white farmers. In response, Ramaphosa said that the expression of a minority party does not equate to government policy. Trump also suggested that Malema should have been arrested. Earlier this year, South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled that Malema and the EFF singing "Dubul' ibhunu" does not constitute hate speech.

Around the time of the ruling, South African-born billionaire and close Trump associate Elon Musk wrote on X that "a major political party in South Africa … is actively promoting white genocide," a talking point that Trump recycled today. Many online were amused that Trump hinged his white genocide claims on an EFF rally video of Malema leading "Kill the Boer" chants. "This is sort of the opposite of apartheid," the U.S. president said in an outlandish claim.

"So this entire Genocide narrative is based on Julius [Malema]. Not the White House watching EFF clips," X user @AfricanQueenM9 wrote in a post. Malema himself weighed in on the chatter, writing on X that no "significant amount of intelligence evidence has been produced about white genocide," while reiterating that his party supports "land expropriation without compensation."

South Africa's recent land expropriation law only allows the government to take over land that has not been used for long periods.

The most shocking part of the press conference came when Trump turned attention to the TV screen again, this time showing what he called the graves of a thousand white farmers. Ramaphosa was visibly stunned, telling the U.S. president that he hadn't seen or heard of such a location in South Africa. Trump failed to state the exact location of the site but insisted that it is in South Africa.

AfriForum leader Kallie Kriel said he could neither confirm nor deny that the clips shown in the white house were from a documentary made by his organization. Kriel was speaking on South African television news broadcaster eNCA, and he said similar crosses, which Trump pointed to as grave markers, had been used during protests by his organization in the past.

Nearly everyone who accompanied the South African president spoke to change Trump's perspective. South Africa's agriculture minister, John Steenhuisen, who is the leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said most of the country's white farmers want to remain in the country. South African businessman Johann Rupert stated that crime affected all populations and not just the white minority.

There was special praise online for Zingiswa Losi, President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). "South Africa has a crime problem, not a crime problem based on race," Losi pointedly stated, while also mentioning the rate at which women are victims of gender-based crimes. She also noted that the punitive measures stemming from Trump's white genocide claims – financial aid cuts and tariffs on South African exports – are worsening unemployment, especially at a time when the country needs foreign direct investment to improve its economy.

It remains to be seen if the press conference and the bilateral meeting will change anything in Trump's stance. The Ramaphosa-led delegation was generally cordial, gifting the president a heavy golf book featuring several golf courses in South Africa – golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were part of the South African delegation to the White House.

In a critical post, X user @SunBirdZakh found the exchange in the press conference "embarrassing," writing that the goal to salvage relations with the U.S. "prove[s] everyone right about how we exist to pander to whiteness." Meanwhile, X user @Tandile280578 was more pointed in their assessment: "I hate the begging from South Africa. It's really distasteful."