IN PICTURES | The Trump - Ramaphosa meeting
“It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans. I’m not going to be repeating what I’m saying. If there was an Afrikaner genocide, these three men would not be here, including my Agriculture Minister.
President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at the White House in Washington, United States, to meet his counterpart President Donald Trump over resetting the two countries' bilateral ties. Picture: AFP
President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived at the White House on Wednesday with two of South Africa's top golfers, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and the country's richest man Johann Rupert, in a bid to woo golf-loving US president Donald Trump.
Ramaphosa called Wednesday for a "reset" in his country's relations with the United States, as he met President Donald Trump for talks at the White House.
Ramaphosa thanked Trump "for allowing your people to start discussions with us at the trade level" before adding: "We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa."
Trump told Ramaphosa that he was looking for an explanation of unfounded claims of "genocide" against white Afrikaners.
"Generally, they're white farmers, and they're fleeing South Africa, and it's a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don't want that," Trump said as he met the South African president for talks at the White House.
Trump asked staff members to play a video on a screen set up in the Oval Office showing Ramaphosa - and the gathered global media - what he said were clips of Black South Africans talking about the issue, including images of what the US president called "burial sites."
In the video, firebrand far-left opposition lawmaker Julius Malema was shown singing "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer" - an infamous chant dating back to the apartheid-era fight against white-minority rule.
Malema has been a loud and radical voice in South African politics for several years, but his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party came only fourth in last year's elections with less than 10 percent of the vote.
Ramaphosa denied that his South Africa confiscates land from white farmers, as he was pressed on the issue by Trump.
Trump put to his counterpart in an Oval Office meeting that "you do allow them to take land."
"No, no, no, no," Ramaphosa responded. "Nobody can take land."
Asked what he thought it would take to convince Trump, Ramaphosa said:
“It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans. I’m not going to be repeating what I’m saying. If there was an Afrikaner genocide, these three men would not be here, including my Agriculture Minister.