US President Donald Trump told reporters that he does not "expect anything" to come of South Africa's International Court of Justice case against Israel during his meeting with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday.
Ramaphosa was in the US to persuade Trump to make deals with his country rather than scold and punish it as he has done since the start of his second term.
After a friendly initial chat in which Trump complimented South African golfers and Ramaphosa said he wanted to talk about critical minerals and trade, Trump played a video that purported to show evidence of a genocide of whites.
South Africa rejects the allegation that white people are disproportionately targeted by crime. Murder rates are high in the country, and the overwhelming majority of victims are Black.
Ramaphosa mostly sat expressionless while the video was played, occasionally craning his neck to look at it. Trump said the video showed the graves of thousands of white farmers. Ramaphosa said he had not seen that before, and that he would like to find out what the location was.
Trump then displayed printed copies of articles that he said showed white South Africans who had been killed, saying "death, death" as he flipped through them.
Ramaphosa said there was crime in South Africa, and the majority of victims were Black. Trump cut him off and said: "The farmers are not Black."
Ramaphosa responded: "These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about."
Johann Rupert on Wednesday told Trump that South Africa needs technological help in stopping deaths in the country, which he said were not just of white farmers but across the board.
"We have too many deaths... It's not only white farmers, it's across the board, and we need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones," Rupert said during the Oval Office meeting.
In response to the claims by Trump, South Africa's foreign ministry spokesperson said in a post on X on Wednesday that "there is no land confiscation," following the meeting.
"I'm sorry I don't have a plane to give you," he later quipped to Trump, referring to the luxury jet that the US accepted as a gift from Qatar earlier that day.
US attacking South Africa due to racial discrimination claims
Attacking South Africa's land reform law aimed at redressing the injustices of apartheid and its genocide court case against Israel, Trump has canceled aid to the country, expelled its ambassador, and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims that Pretoria says are unfounded.
"Whether we like it or not, we are joined at the hip and we need to be talking to them," Ramaphosa said on South African state television before flying to Washington to meet Trump.
The stakes are high for South Africa. The United States is its second-biggest trading partner after China, and the aid cut has already resulted in a drop in testing for HIV patients.
Ramaphosa will offer Trump a broad trade deal, said a spokesperson for the trade ministry, declining to give details.
For his part, Trump is likely to demand that US companies be exempted from "racial requirements," a White House official said.
South Africa has laws to compel businesses to hire and promote Black South Africans, including a requirement for large companies in some sectors, such as mining and telecommunications, to have a 30% equity stake held by disadvantaged groups.
Policies aim to restore racial justice
Ramaphosa is unlikely to agree to weaken such rules, which are core to his government's aspiration to restore racial justice after centuries of colonialism and apartheid.
"There's political problems here that lie at the heart of the breakdown in the relationship," said Joshua Meservey, senior fellow at conservative US think tank the Hudson Institute, cautioning that deal-making may not be enough to overcome them.
Nevertheless, Ramaphosa plans to discuss opportunities for Tesla and Starlink, companies owned by Trump's ally Elon Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa and has accused Ramaphosa of pursuing anti-white policies, which he rejects.
Discussions could include favorable tariffs for Tesla's imports into South Africa in return for building electric vehicle charging stations, and licensing for Starlink, Ramaphosa's spokesperson said.
GOLF CONNECTIONS
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who is traveling with Ramaphosa, said he would work to secure South African farmers' duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act(AGOA) and to expand access.
AGOA is at risk from Trump's tariff regime, which is currently suspended but would hit South Africa with a 30% duty if enacted.
"I believe that with enough drive and determination, we can expand access and improve relations, and this means greater opportunities for South African farmers and farmworkers," Steenhuisen told Reuters by text message from Washington.
Trump has accused South Africa of seizing land from white farmers and of fuelling disproportionate violence against white landowners with "hateful rhetoric and government actions."
Pretoria says these claims are inaccurate and "fail to recognize South Africa's profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid."
Crime statistics show no evidence that white people are disproportionately targeted. A land reform law allows judicial challenges to any expropriation orders, which can only be issued in the public interest. No expropriation has taken place.
White people, who make up about 7% of South Africa's population, are still richer than the Black majority by every economic measure and still own three-quarters of the country's freehold farmland.
Ramaphosa is an experienced negotiator, having headed the African National Congress's team during the 1990s talks that led to apartheid's peaceful end. He also built a successful investment vehicle before becoming president in 2018, and may be helped in his wooing of Trump by rich and powerful allies.
South African media reported that billionaire luxury goods tycoon Johann Rupert, the richest person in South Africa, and golfer Ernie Els have helped to bring about the meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa. Both have played golf with Trump.
Neither man responded to requests for comment.
Rupert, founder of the Richemont group, which owns brands such as Cartier and Chloe, was quoted by News24 as saying he was very concerned about the potential loss of AGOA and its impact on jobs in his homeland.