(AFP) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meets Donald Trump on Wednesday amid tensions over Washington’s resettlement of white Afrikaners that the US president claims are the victims of “genocide.” The Trump administration’s admission of around 50 white South Africans last week — even as it halts refugee arrivals from most of the rest of the world — is set to dominate the meeting at the White House.
Ramaphosa will be hoping to reset historically low relations with a crucial trading partner but will also confront Trump over what Pretoria says are false claims of persecution. The South African president will stress to Trump that conspiracies of a “white genocide” in South Africa are “patently false,” his spokesman Vincent Magwenya said. “We need to reset the relationship,” he added.
Ramaphosa may also come bearing gifts, with reports that his government will offer Trump advisor Elon Musk a deal to operate his Starlink network in the country. Tech tycoon Musk was born in South Africa and has been a vocal proponent of the unfounded assertion that white farmers are being targeted in the country for murder. Trump appears to have bought into his billionaire ally’s claims.
A first group of around 50 white South Africans arrived in the United States on May 12 after Trump offered refuge to the Afrikaner minority. “It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about,” Trump told reporters on the day they arrived. “White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.”
Trump’s administration has been particularly critical of a land expropriation law signed in January that aims to redress historical inequalities from the apartheid era of white minority rule. Ramaphosa has rejected Washington’s assertion that the law will be used to arbitrarily confiscate white-owned land.
– ‘Reset and revitalize’ –
Land ownership is a contentious issue in post-apartheid South Africa, with most farmland still owned by white people despite being only 7.3 percent of the population. Some right-wing Afrikaner lobby groups have claimed that Afrikaans farmers are being murdered in targeted killings, but authorities say this is unfounded. Most of the victims of South Africa’s sky-high murder rate are young black men in urban areas, according to police figures.
But Trump and his team have also torn into a series of other policies in South Africa, a pivotal nation seen by former administrations as a crucial ally for Washington. It has slammed South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, cut aid, announced 31-percent tariffs, and expelled Pretoria’s ambassador after he criticized Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Seasoned diplomat Ramaphosa will therefore be treading a tightrope when he meets Trump in the Oval Office. The symbolic heart of the American presidency has turned into something of an endurance test for foreign leaders seeking to curry favor with the unpredictable Trump in his second term. Ramaphosa will in particular seek to avoid the fate of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was berated by Trump and US Vice President JD Vance in front of news cameras in February.
Trade will be one of the top topics for Ramaphosa. The United States is South Africa’s second-biggest trade partner but Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs in April — later paused for 90 days — has ignited fears for key sectors, including the automobile industry and citrus growers. “The purpose of the visit is to reset and revitalize bilateral relations between South Africa and the United States,” read a statement issued by the Pretoria presidency.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
