The meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa started off with an amicable discussion. But the US president proved to be a political rottweiler.
South Africa had to take a “strategic decision” on whether it wanted the meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and his US counterpart Donald Trump to collapse on the basis of a “non-existing” white genocide issue in the country, International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said.
Lamola was speaking to CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
Rottweiler
The meeting on Wednesday between Trump and Ramaphosa started off with an amicable discussion. But the US president, who proved to be a political rottweiler for Afrikaners and white farmers, shifted the focus to farm attacks in South Africa.
In a high-stakes confrontation, Trump ambushed Ramaphosa with graphic footage of EFF leader Julius Malema, alleging “white genocide” of South African farmers.
Ramaphosa remained calm and handled the situation well, rejecting Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread killings of Afrikaners.
WATCH Ronald Lamola chatting to CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour
“South Africa belongs to all who live in it. It’s united in our diversity. But the constitution is also very clear that there must be transformation in our country.” @RonaldLamola tells me “we had to take a strategic decision whether we wanted the meeting to collapse on the basis… pic.twitter.com/H4e9Q3n9rj
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) May 22, 2025
ALSO READ: WATCH: Donald Trump ambushes Cyril Ramaphosa in Oval Office
‘Level of research’
He was asked by Amanpour if he was surprised by the “level of research” Trump’s aides had done at such a high-level meeting between two presidents.
Amanpour said Trump may not have been aware that Malema was not part of the government, overplayed the white crosses video about farm murders and that the stack of documents the US president handed to Ramaphosa was not about South Africa.
“This is easily debunked stuff, basic fact checking,” he said.
‘Strategic decision’
Lamola said the “end goal” of the delegation was the interaction must end with the “resetting of the bilateral relations”.
“We had to take a strategic decision whether we wanted the meeting to collapse on the basis of a non-existing issue or not. We wanted this matter, as you would have heard our president that behind closed doors, these issues would be engaged on.
“There was indeed context provided with regards to the song (Kill the Boer). But it has got a historical context, it is not something that is sung now to incite any form of violence and so forth,” Lamola said.
ALSO READ: Calls to address farm murders after Trump meeting [VIDEO]
Malema not part of GNU
Lamola stressed that Malema was not part of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
“That (violence) is not government policy, to kill the Boer, to kill the farmer. The government policy is that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. It’s united in our diversity. But the constitution is also very clear that there must be transformation in our country.
“That’s why there must be tranformatory laws in relations to the land, in relation to the various aspects of our society. So, that is what we dealing with when we deal with the various laws of expropriation and other laws,” Lamola said.
Trump open to persuasion
After his meeting with Trump, Ramaphosa told the media that Trump remained open to persuasion.
“When he was asked by one of you – and thank God one of you asked – whether he was convinced that there was genocide, he said he still isn’t convinced. Much as he played the video and all those press clippings, in the end, I do believe that there’s doubt and disbelief in his head about all this.”
Earlier, Ramaphosa said Trump must listen to the voices of South Africans about whether there was a white genocide in South Africa.
ALSO READ: Ramaphosa says Trump meeting a success despite ambush [VIDEO]
