Nairobi, Kenya
CNN
–
Many South Africans praise President Cyril Ramaphosa’s gentle attitude as a multimedia ambush of President Donald Trump unfolding in front of the world’s media. He retreated as gently as he could, but he didn’t show decades of negotiation experience, speaking up or showing rage.
“What else could Cyril do?” asked veteran journalist Milton Nukosi. “If that’s the case, you won’t be sorry, I think they’d been captured as completely unaware, if you don’t, said Nkosi, a senior researcher at dialogue at a think tank in Africa and Asia.
Throughout social media and South Africa’s broadcast outlets, the consensus quickly seemed Ramaphosa did his best under the circumstances. He posted one user to X, “I calmed down in the face of prejudice and lies, and got together and humbled.” “You were the leader today.
Ramaphosa brought his own white billionaire to the meeting – luxury tycoon Johann Rupert behind brands like Cartier – told Trump that violent crime would affect all races, but he was deaf.
Rupert even threw tech billionaire Elon Musk, Who was in the room? bone.
“We have too many deaths, but it’s all over the place,” Rupert said. “It’s not just white farmers. It’s all over the place. You need technical help. Every little police station needs Starlink. You need drones.”
In a social media post, one South African called Rupert a fellow African traitor.
Another prominent South African Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen also tried to convince the hosts of their oval office that he had been misunderstood.
The most dramatic part of the scene came when Trump called for a 4.5-minute montage to screen for darkening the lights and claiming to show evidence of white genocide. It included Julius Malema, the distant left opposition leader, singing, “Kill Boer, kill farmers,” as the crowd chanted.
Officially named “Dubula Ibhunu” in the Xhosa language, the song appeared in the 1980s to combat the unjust system of quarantine. A South African court ruled that it did not mean a literal call to kill white farmers.
The Supreme Court of Appeals determined in 2024 that “reasonably well-informed person” would view it as “a provocative tool for advancing the party’s political agenda.”
Trump confronted Ramaphosa about why he didn’t arrest Malema.
Malema, the leader of The Economic Freedom Fighters Party, responded in the fiery way typical of X. “A group of older men are meeting in Washington and doing gossip about me,” he said, challenging the genocide claims. “We do not agree to compromise on political principles regarding expropriation without compensation for political convenience.”
Malema was expelled from Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) party more than a decade ago, and came in third place in the most recent election.
Most of the information Trump tried to prove that “white genocide” was happening in South Africa has been repeatedly disproved.
Some South Africans say they believe this information is “afriform propaganda.” The white African lobby group has been criticized as a white nationalist group.
Its CEO told CNN that the group was pleased with how the meeting progressed.
“The South African president and the ANC leadership shows us that we don’t just sweep the real problems in the country under the carpet and think they’ll disappear,” Curry Criel told the voice note.
CNN is considering data from South African police and has found no evidence of “white genocide.” The video played by Trump claimed to show thousands of white farmers buried along the side of the road, but Ramaphosa said he was not aware of the video and there was no evidence of what Trump had shown.
This was the toughest public exam ever for Ramaphosa, a skilled deal maker who led the negotiations for Nelson Mandela in his talk that ended apartheid.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous to sit down and see the president of the world’s most powerful country. I tell the man who negotiated to end apartheid that South Africa has white genocide trapped in solitary confinement. That’s a lie,” Nkosi told CNN.
It was a good day for the white nationalists in South Africa. The US President repeated their story points from the White House bully’s pulpit, giving them the best verification they’ve ever dreamed of.
The South African delegation was hoping for a confrontational meeting, but would not have been able to prepare them for the ambush awaiting them.
