Trump seizes on videos of a fringe South African politician as evidence of threats to white farmers
May 21, 2025
President Donald Trump used a video shown in the Oval Office to confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with claims that white farmers are being targeted and killed in the country. Trump’s main evidence was clips showing a politician who was kicked out of Ramaphosa’s party, is not part of the coalition that governs the country and whose own political movement garnered less than 10% of the vote in last year’s elections. Some of Trump’s allies have seized on Julius Malema’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters to argue that South Africa is engaged in genocide against white farmers. Ramaphosa protested and said his government’s policies are “completely against” what was shown in the videos.
