When Ramaphosa met Trump: An analysis of the much-anticipated meeting
Reporting from the White House, Tshidi Madia shares her frontline view of the high-stakes Ramaphosa Trump encounter, and how she has become part of the story herself.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump shake hands during their meeting. Photo: AFP
Ray White (in for 702's Bongani Bingwa) is joined by EWN political editor Tshidi Madia.
Listen below:
It was a sleep-deprived Tshidi Madia who joined Ray White on 702's Breakfast Show on Thursday.
Not only was it the early hours of the morning in Washington DC, where Madia has been based this week, but in addition to attending the much-anticipated showdown between Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump, she had also been carrying out interviews with several American media houses.
Madia was one of a handful of local journalists who attended the press conference between the two leaders at the White House on Wednesday.
After which, Madia herself was on the receiving end of the microphone, giving a South African perspective on the meeting to local media in Washington, including rolling news channel CNN.
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"CNN recognises that what they're dealing with is a false narrative about South Africa, but US local media by and large, wanted desperately to hold on to Trump's narrative around some of those claims."
- Tshidi Madia, Political Editor - EWN
"I was saying to one of them earlier, the least you can do is to research South Africa. You cannot expect South Africans to answer to falsehoods... I'm an observer, I have no reason to protect a government that's lying."
- Tshidi Madia, Political Editor - EWN
At one point during the meeting, Newzroom Afrika's Ziyanda Ngcobo asked Trump what it would take for him to believe there was no white genocide happening in South Africa.
Ramaphosa took the question and said it would be listening to the voices of South Africans, including 'Trump's good friends', in the room with him.
South Africa's delegation included top golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, as well as Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen and billionaire businessman Johann Rupert.
"Johann Rupert was quite interesting in the room - he highlighted the importance of a man like him... the richest, a white man to speak specifically to what he recognises is South Africa."
- Tshidi Madia, Political Editor - EWN
"I think what was difficult was having to admit out loud to the world that South Africa has this rampant crime problem, and that's not anything anyone can pretend is not happening."
- Tshidi Madia, Political Editor - EWN
So did Ramaphosa and the South African delegation achieve what they set out to achieve?
"They had a working lunch after the press engagement... there was no working lunch for Zelensky, so they're trying to downplay the drama that we saw by saying, we stuck it out, we had lunch with Trump and it was pleasant."
- Tshidi Madia, Political Editor - EWN
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the discussion.