Ramaphosa survives Trump's ambush on "white genocide"

Watch: "Open the Lights" - Trump-How the Ramaposa Conference unexpectedly changes

Donald Trump proved to be a political Rottweiler dancer for right-wing Afrikaans group who fought with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

They soon celebrated the U.S. president’s ambush at the Oval Office and toured the United States to lobby for the Trump administration’s solidarity campaign - calling it a welcome to South Africa’s “large problems placed on the international stage.”

Ernst Roets, a leader in the rights of the Dutch, expressed his admiration for the U.S. president.

He said in an article on X: "Donald Trump made history today, and then thanked him for showing the video of opposition opposition politician Julius Malema singing, "shooting Boole (Afrikaner); shooting the farmers", and newspaper headlines that killed white farmers.

Unity Jaco Kleynhans took a step further, saying Trump won the Nobel Prize for "putting the farm murder crisis on the international agenda."

But for Pieter du Toit, a leading South African political columnist, the ambush shows that “months and years of exaggeration, exaggeration and misleading have been sent to the right-wing ecosystem of the United States by a series of South African activists, and have reached the mark.”

AFP/Getty Images

Cyril Ramaphosa stays calm and brings a delegation to deal with Trump's claims of persecution of white people

Like many South Africans, he praised Ramaphosa's measurement of encounters at the White House, smiling as Trump frowned.

But many are angry at right-wing groups, saying they show a lack of patriotism by lobbying the Trump administration to take a tough attitude towards the country.

Such critics point out that South Africa has a government of national unity – composed of 10 political parties from the racial and ideological divide to address countless problems in the country – from high levels of crime that affect all races and classes to unemployment at 32%, to 32%, where blacks struggle to find jobs.

For most South Africans, the “Rainbow Nation” was exhibited at the White House, and a unified front for Trump.

The government delegation includes John Steenhuisen, the highest-ranking white politician in South Africa - the Minister of Agriculture who leads South Africa's second largest political party, Democratic Alliance (DA).

He acknowledged that South Africa has a “real security issue” and added that it requires “a lot of effort to achieve the best effort”.

“This will require more policing resources,” he said.

But he refuted the idea that most white farmers are fleeing: “Of course, most of the commercial and small-scale farmers in South Africa do indeed want to stay in South Africa and make it work.”

Trump’s video magnifies the role of the Opposition Economic Free Fighter (EFF) in South African politics, showing its leaders singing the song “Shooting the Boers.”

The party advocates the nationalization of land, and Malema revels in his political rally chanting the song - Trump demands to know why nothing has been done against him.

The song was once the anti-apartheid anthem, which the Africa Hall groups tried to ban. However, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that a “very well-known person” would understand that when “protest songs” were sung, even if they were sung by politicians, the words were not literally understood, nor were they understood as gestures that called for weapons or violence to be named.”

Instead, the song is the “provocative way” to advance the EFF’s political agenda, namely ending “land and economic injustice.”

Getty Images LR: Unionist Zingiswa Losi (L), businessman Johann Rupert and Golfer Retief Go in the Oval OfficeGetty Images

Unionist Zingiswa Losi (L) agrees in the Oval Office that other South Africans, not race is the problem

Ramaphosa pointed out to Trump that South Africa is a democratic country - while the government completely opposes what Malema does, the EFF has the right to survive under the Constitution.

EFF fell to fourth place in last year's parliamentary elections, and Ramaphosa refused to reach a deal with him, and dropped to fourth place by reaching a deal with him to form a coalition government after the poll failed to completely win the championship.

Stephen Huisen told Trump that the central right-wing party DA, representing the free market economy, has joined the administration to prevent EFF and help resolve South Africa's problems.

"This government works together to require support from our allies around the world so that we can strengthen our hands, develop the economy, and forever close the doors to the rebels (Malema) through the Union buildings (the government location)."

“It looks uncomfortable”

Steenhuisen and Ramaphosa have the middle ground of South African politics - the Afrikaan right and EFF and the Umkhonto Wesizwe (national) party of former President Jacob Zuma are in extreme states.

Ramaphosa promised to advocate solidarity, citing the name of anti-apartheid idol Nelson Mandela - a symbol of racial reconciliation in South Africa after the end of the white minority rule in 1994.

But some Afrikaans believe they no longer live in South Africa and Trump has provided them with refugee status. Nearly 60 of them have been resettled in the United States.

Trump introduced in February on a placard in the US Embassy in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa: “Great South Africa Again” – a placard adapted to Trump’s “Make America Great Again”, some of whom gathered in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa outside the US Embassy.

South Africa's Agriculture Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso acknowledged that the Oval Office's meeting "looks uncomfortable".

He told the BBC's Newcur Plan: "South Africa does not have genocide ... South Africa commits crimes like other countries, and this kind of crime will affect many people."

Nyhontso praised Ramaphosa for keeping calm, rather than shooting at Trump when he ambushed with a gun.

AFP/Getty Images of the police officer in the South African city of Cape Town ordered the man to put his hands on the wall so that he could search and inquire - June 2020.AFP/Getty Images

South African billionaire Johann Rupert

Some also praised the South African president's tactics - bringing the famous Afrikaan golfer to the meeting to ease tensions.

When invited to speak, Ernie Els took out his South African passport to prove his patriotism - and talked about his respect for Mandela after he managed to unite the country at the end of apartheid - but he said he wanted to see South Africa flourish with the help of the United States.

Retief Goosen perhaps added more fuel to the fire, explaining how difficult it was for his brother to farm outside the northern town of Polokwane - explaining how he faced "continuous battles" where they tried to "burn the farm and drive you away".

Although he ended up saying that despite their fear of crime, “they live a good life despite what happened.”

Billionaire businessman Johann Rupert, also Afrikaner, points out that South Africa has the highest murder rate, and in the towns of Cape Town, most residents are black or of color - as well as mixed races in South Africa are well known and are the mercy of violent gangsters.

Zingiswa Losi, the president of South Africa's largest union, introduced Trump to the devastating situation in rural areas of the "black majority".

“You see women, older people being raped, killed, murdered,” she said.

She urged the delegation to solve problems through trade and create jobs.

“The issue in South Africa is not necessarily about race, it is about crime.”

This is what most South Africans agree with.

More information about South Africa-US relations:

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