South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a rare and direct critique of former US President Donald Trump, branding his policy to grant refugee status to white Afrikaners as "racist". In an interview with the New York Times, Ramaphosa accused Trump of being "truly uninformed" for propagating baseless allegations of a "white genocide" in South Africa.
Oval Office Ambush with Misleading Video
Ramaphosa recounted a startling incident during a meeting in the Oval Office in May 2025, describing it as a "spectacle" and an "ambush". He revealed that Trump dimmed the lights and played a video that falsely purported to show evidence of a "white genocide" occurring in South Africa. "I just thought that he is so uninformed, truly uninformed," Ramaphosa stated. "I realised that he is looking at South Africa through a completely, sort of, foggy lens, without realising the real, real harm that apartheid did. In my view, he was just dismissive."
Trump's Controversial Refugee Policy
Since beginning his second term in January 2025, Trump has targeted South Africa, spreading unfounded claims that the country's white minority is facing genocide and land seizures by the government. In May 2025, the US extended refugee status to Afrikaners, descendants of the minority apartheid government who remain significantly wealthier on average than Black South Africans. Concurrently, Trump slashed the US refugee programme for individuals fleeing war and persecution globally.
"I do think the Afrikaner policy is racist," Ramaphosa asserted. "It is that racist sort of demeanour that we want to be able to whittle down so that he can see the truth of the situation." He emphasised that there is no white genocide, no land grabbing from white people, and white farmers are not being expelled or mistreated in South Africa.
Diplomatic Tensions and White House Response
The diplomatic rift has deepened, with Trump refusing to attend the G20 leaders' meetings in Johannesburg in November and banning South Africa from the US-hosted gathering in Miami later this year. In a statement to the New York Times, the White House defended Trump's actions, saying he was highlighting "the harrowing stories of Afrikaners" and that "President Trump has a humanitarian heart. He will continue to speak the truth about these injustices."
Ramaphosa, who is set to step down as head of the African National Congress party next year and as South Africa's president in 2029, expressed bewilderment at Trump's focus on his nation. "We are rather amazed at the attention he gives to us. We are a small country, and we are no threat to the United States," he remarked, underscoring the disproportionate nature of the controversy.
