South Africans Outraged by Trump’s False Genocide Claims
NPR
Furious South Africans slammed Donald Trump on Thursday after he resurrected a baseless “white genocide” narrative, reportedly mentioning it in talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
After years of strained relations fueled by Trump’s tariff threats and diplomatic snubs, the two presidents met on Wednesday in a bid to salvage what little was left of their diplomatic partnership.
A controversial video shown at the meeting featured the leader of a tiny radical party belting out an old anti-apartheid chant about “killing” white farmers, stoking further controversy.
Unfazed, Trump clung to his baseless story of land grabs targeting the Afrikaner minority, descendants of colonial settlers still holding more than three-quarters of South Africa’s farmland.
“Donald Trump clearly doesn’t understand the reality in South Africa,” said 25-year-old saleswoman Naledi Morwalle. “He’s spreading lies about our country,” she said
Across South Africa, viewers followed the live broadcast, cheering on a delegation that held its own with four cabinet ministers and two of the nation’s star golfers backing them up.
Though a few critics wished Ramaphosa had hit back harder at Trump’s false “white genocide” claims, many applauded his steady, firm reply pointing out that it’s black South Africans who bear the brunt of violent crime in the country.
“We did well by putting the facts front and center,” said activist Ulrich Steenkamp. “What the world does with that information is their call,” he said.
Ignoring the facts, Trump recycled false accusations that South Africa is seizing land from the white Afrikaner minority, descendants of Dutch colonists who control the vast majority of the nation’s commercial farmland.
Across the nation, South Africans watched the meeting unfold live on TV, with many expressing pride in their delegation’s strong showing backed by four cabinet ministers and two celebrated golfers lending weight to their team.
Opinions differed on President Ramaphosa’s response: some wished he had been more forceful in dismissing Trump’s unfounded “white genocide” accusations, while others praised his composed rebuttal emphasizing that it is black South Africans who bear the greatest burden of the country’s violent crime.
The video shown during the talks, depicting rows of white crosses Trump falsely claimed marked the graves of murdered white farmers, clearly shook President Ramaphosa, said Thelela Ngcetane-Vika, an expert from the Wits School of Governance.
About The Author
