Trump confronts South African leader with baseless claims of the systematic killing of white farmers

WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accusing the country of failing to address Trump s baseless claim of the systematic killing of white farmers Trump even dimmed the lights of the Oval Office to play a video of a far-left politician chanting a song that includes the lyrics kill the farmer He also leafed through news articles to underscore his point saying the country s white farmers have faced death death death horrible death Trump had already cut all U S assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen white South African farmers to the U S as refugees as he pressed the circumstance that a genocide is underway in the country The U S president since his return to office has launched a series of accusations at South Africa s Black-led administration claiming it is seizing land from white farmers enforcing antiwhite policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign plan Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted for their race although farmers of all races are casualties of violent home invasions in a country with a high crime rate People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety Trump disclosed Their land is being confiscated and in countless cases they re being killed Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump s accusation The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country s relationship with the United States The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation which ended in We are altogether opposed to that Ramaphosa noted of the behavior alleged by Trump in their exchange He added that is not ruling body framework and our authorities approach is utterly perfectly against what he was saying Trump was unmoved When they take the land they kill the white farmer he revealed Trump appeared prepared to confront Ramaphosa at the start of the meeting while journalists were present Videos were cued up on a large TV set to show a clip of an opposition party leader Julius Malema leading an old anti-apartheid song The song has been contentious for years in the country because of its central lyrics kill the Boer and shoot the Boer with Boer a word that refers to a white farmer Malema featured in the video is not part of the country s governing coalition Another clip played revealed white crosses on the side of a road described as a memorial for white farmers who were killed Ramaphosa seemed baffled I d like to know where that is because this I ve never seen Trump kicked off the meeting by describing the South African president as a truly respected man in countless a great number of circles He added And in chosen circles he s considered a little controversial Ramaphosa chimed in playfully jabbing back at a U S president who is no stranger to conflict We re all like that Ramaphosa explained Trump issued an executive order in February cutting all funding to South Africa over various of its domestic and foreign policies The order criticized the South African leadership on multiple fronts saying it is pursuing antiwhite policies at home and supporting bad actors in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran Trump has falsely accused the South African authorities of rights violations against white Afrikaner farmers by seizing their land through a new expropriation law No land has been seized and the South African executive has pushed back saying U S criticism is driven by misinformation The Trump administration s references to the Afrikaner people who are descendants of Dutch and other European settlers have also elevated previous insists made by Trump s South African-born adviser Elon Musk and particular conservative U S commentators that the South African leadership is allowing attacks on white farmers in what amounts to a genocide The administration s concerns about South African policies cut even deeper than the concerns about white farmers South Africa has also angered Trump over its move to bring charges at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza Ramaphosa has also faced scrutiny in Washington for his past connections to MTN Group Iran s second-largest telecom provider It owns nearly half of Irancell a joint venture linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ramaphosa served as board chair of MTN from to Ramaphosa came into the meeting looking to avoid the sort of contentious engagement that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy experienced during his February Oval Office visit when the Ukrainian leader located himself being berated by Trump and Vice President JD Vance That disastrous meeting ended with White House executives asking Zelenskyy and his delegation to leave the White House grounds The South African president s delegation included golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen a gesture to the golf-obsessed U S president Ramaphosa brought Trump a massive book about South Africa s golf courses He even explained Trump that he s been working on his golf battle seeming to angle for an invitation to the links with the president Luxury goods tycoon and Afrikaner Johann Rupert was also in the delegation to help ease Trump s concerns that land was being seized from white farmers At one point Ramaphosa called on Zingiswa Losi the president of a group of South African commerce unions who explained Trump it is true that South Africa is a violent nation for a number of reasons But she informed him it was fundamental to understand that Black men and women in rural areas were also being targeted in heinous crimes The concern in South Africa it is not necessarily about race but it s about crime Losi mentioned We are here to say how do we both nations work together to reset to really talk about assets but also help to really address the levels of crime we have in our country Musk also attended Wednesday s talks He has been at the forefront of the criticism of his homeland casting its affirmative action laws as racist against whites Musk has commented on social media that his Starlink satellite internet utility isn t able to get a license to operate in South Africa because he is not Black South African personnel say Starlink hasn t formally applied It can but it would be bound by affirmative action laws in the communications sector that require foreign companies to allow of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by shareholders who are Black or from other racial groups disadvantaged under apartheid The South African governing body says its long-standing affirmative action laws are a cornerstone of its efforts to right the injustices of the white minority rule of apartheid which denied opportunities to Blacks and other racial groups Following the contentious exchange in front of the cameras Trump hosted Ramaphosa for lunch and further talks Ramaphosa speaking to reporters following his White House visit downplayed Trump s criticism adding he believes there s doubt and disbelief in Trump s head about his genocide charge He insisted they did not dwell on Trump s concerns about white farmers in their private conversation You required to see drama and something really big happening Ramaphosa described reporters following his White House visit And I m sorry that we disappointed you somewhat when it comes to that Imray announced from Johannesburg AP writers Seung Min Kim Chris Megerian Darlene Superville Sagar Meghani and Ali Swenson contributed reporting