President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during Ramaphosa’s visit to the White House on Wednesday over what he called a “genocide” of white South Africans.
At Trump’s request, representatives from both administrations, as well as the press viewed video clips of black South African activists chanting “Kill the Boer! Kill the Farmer!” during the meeting. Trump also held up printed news articles about the murders of white South African farmers and later handed them to Ramaphosa.
They also viewed video of what appeared to be a long stretch of road in South Africa lined on both sides with white crosses.
“These are burial sites right here… Over 1,000 white farmers,” Trump said. “It’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?” Ramaphosa replied. “I’d like to know where that is, because this I’ve never seen.”
Critics argue Trump is exaggerating the scope of the murder of white farmers.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, around 45 per 100,000. The country ranked seventh for criminality on the Global Organized Crime Index in 2023, the most recent year recorded by the index. There were over 26,000 murders in South Africa in 2024, according to South African business news website BusinessTech.
While most victims of homicide in South Africa are black (the country’s population is 81% black, according to data from the South African government), a phenomenon that’s been occurring since at least the 1990s has caught Trump’s attention. Trump has shown concern for the plight of white farmers there since his first term because of ongoing “farm attacks.”
Farm attacks in South Africa can be politically motivated or just crimes of opportunity. But there are groups in South Africa — like the black Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters featured in the White House video clips Wednesday — that believe that many of the people who own farms there today came to own them unfairly. The Economic Freedom Fighters believe in land redistribution and sing songs like Dubul’ibhunu or the “Kill the Boer” song, which speaks of gunning down white South African farmers.
The Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, a South African bill signed into law by Ramaphosa, makes it legal for the government to reclaim private land for public use without compensation in some cases.
Trump told Ramaphosa during Wednesday’s meeting that a “tremendous number” of mostly white South African farmers were fleeing the country and seeking asylum in the U.S.
“It’s a very sad thing to see. I hope we can have an explanation of that because I know you don’t want that,” Trump said.
Ramaphosa remained calm throughout the meeting and said the persecution of white farmers was not government policy.
“What you saw, the speeches that were being made – one, that is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves,” Ramaphosa said. “They are a small minority party, which is allowed to exist.”
Regarding the Expropriation Act, Ramaphosa said South Africans “have to deal with the past.”
Ramaphosa also suggested that law enforcement in South Africa struggles to keep a handle on the high level of crime there and could benefit from America’s help.
“The criminality that we’re experiencing in our country needs quite a lot of technological capability,” Rampahosa said. “There is support that we can get from you as the United States to help us deal with all these acts of criminality.”
