Washington — US President Donald Trump turned down the lights in the Oval Office on Wednesday and made President Cyril Ramaphosa the target of his latest geopolitical ambush of a foreign leader in front of television cameras.
In an extraordinary scene clearly orchestrated by the White House for maximum effect and reminiscent of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s US visit in February, Trump confronted Ramaphosa with false claims of genocide against SA whites, including allegations of mass killings and land seizures.
It was another display of Trump’s apparent readiness to use the Oval Office, historically reserved as a place of honour for foreign dignitaries, to embarrass visitors from less-powerful nations or hold their feet to the fire on matters he is fixated upon.
Trump’s unprecedented use of the presidential setting for such displays could prompt foreign leaders to think twice about accepting his invitations and risk public humiliation, a reluctance that could make it harder to cement ties with friends and partners that are also being courted by arch-rival China.
Patrick Gaspard, a former US ambassador to SA under President Barack Obama, said Trump had turned the meeting with Ramaphosa into a “shameful spectacle” and “savaged him with some fake snuff film and violent rhetoric”.
“Engaging on Trump’s terms never goes well for anyone,” Gaspard, now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress think-tank in Washington, wrote in a post on X.
The Oval Office meeting had been billed as a chance to reset strained relations between the US and SA, especially after Trump’s imposition of tariffs, and to defuse escalating tension over his unfounded accusations of “white genocide” and offer to resettle Afrikaners.
After a cordial start to the meeting, Trump, a former reality TV star, ordered the lights dimmed and showed a video and printed articles purporting to be evidence that white South Africans are being persecuted.
Ramaphosa, clearly prepared to counter Trump’s accusations but unlikely to have expected the political theatre, was attentive and composed as he sought to refute what was presented by his host, but he stopped short of directly challenging or criticising a US president with a reputation for being thin-skinned.
“I’m sorry I don’t have a plane to give you,” Ramaphosa quipped with a smile, referring to the luxury jetliner Qatar has offered Trump as a replacement for Air Force One.
His spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that “you could see President Ramaphosa was being provoked”.
“You could see he was having his eye pulled, and he did not fall for the trap,” Magwenya said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request on whether the meeting was set up to put Ramaphosa in the hot seat and whether that might discourage other foreign leaders from such visits.
Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank in Washington, said that while the televised portion of the meeting was a circus, “it never crossed the line into anger or vitriol, so it didn’t go off the cliff”.
Zelensky-Trump shouting match
That mood stood in sharp contrast to Trump’s meeting just months ago with Zelensky, which devolved into a shouting match involving both Trump and US Vice-President JD Vance.
Zelensky, much like Ramaphosa, was there to try to heal a rift in relations and in Ukraine’s case maintain US military assistance to Kyiv in the war against Russia’s invading forces.
But the meeting quickly went off the rails, with Trump accusing Zelensky of being disrespectful and gambling with a potential World War 3, and Vance charging that the Ukrainian leader had not shown enough appreciation for US support.
The contentious nature of the meeting sent shock waves through the Nato alliance backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
There may have been less at stake in Trump’s meeting on Wednesday with Ramaphosa, but SA is a major political and economic player in Africa that counts China as its biggest trading partner, with the US coming in second.
SA rejects Trump’s allegations.
Trump’s confrontation appeared tailored for parts of his political base, particularly the far-right and white nationalist segments that have long pushed the narrative of a “white genocide” in SA .
By showcasing unverified claims of violence against white farmers and framing land reform as racial persecution, Trump tapped talking points popular in US right-wing extremist circles.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has cancelled aid, expelled SA’s ambassador and resettled some Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims Pretoria says are baseless. The programme has been divisive as Trump has been largely blocking refugee admissions from the rest of the world.
A new land reform law allows for expropriations without compensation when in the public interest; for example, if land is lying fallow. No such expropriation has taken place and any order can be challenged in court.
Reuters
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