South African Paper Slams Trump for Ambushing Country's Prez
One of South Africa's most esteemed newspapers bashed President Donald Trump on Wednesday for blindsiding the country's leader during the duo's Oval Office meeting.
'U.S. president Donald Trump blindsided his counterpart President Cyril Ramaphosa during their meeting in the White House's Oval Office by playing a montage of video clips of EFF leader Julius Malema singing about killing white people,' The Sunday Times noted.
The EFF, or Economic Freedom Fighters, are a South African self-proclaimed 'radical and militant movement.'
According to The Times, 'Ramaphosa had just told Trump that he would allow, in their private meeting, his delegation... to explain to him that there was no white genocide in the country.'
But instead of giving them a moment to speak their piece, he randomly 'jumped in' and directed that a 'video clip be played.'
Then, the lights dimmed and a collation of the Malema videos were played.
Trump has been pushing the 'false white genocide narrative,' according to The Times, which is the unsubstantiated idea that 'thousands' of white Afrikaner farmers are desperate to seek asylum in the United States due to fears of 'white genocide.'
The most recent South African official data shows that the country had 19,696 murders from April 2024 to December 2024. Only seven of those murdered were farmers.
Before meeting with Ramaphosa, Trump promised him that he would allow his delegation the chance to disprove his claims. The delegation included his minister of agriculture and Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen, billionaire Johann Rupert and golfer Ernie Else, all of whom are white.
But they weren't given the opportunity to speak their minds. Instead, the South African group was completely caught off guard.
'It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his good friends like those who are here,' Ramaphosa insisted. 'But when we have talks between us around a quiet table it will take President Trump to listen to them, I'm not going to be repeating what I've been saying. I would say if there was Afrikaner farmer genocide I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here, including my minister of agriculture, he would not be with me."
He continued: 'So it would take him, President Trump, listening to their stories, to their perspectives, that is the answer to your question.'
Despite Trump's mass immigration crackdown, which has largely defined the first few months of his presidency, he began granting white Afrikaners entry to the country last month.
'Mission South Africa' is the administration's program aimed at assisting white South Africans in relocating to the U.S., even as the president rejects individuals from war-torn countries.
Trump has largely followed the lead of Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and has since become a U.S. citizen, on the matter. The Tesla CEO and fellow billionaire has been a close adviser to the president since his inauguration, and has long voiced concerns over his home country's treatment of white farmers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
26 minutes ago
- CNN
Venezuelans in Florida react to Trump's new travel ban
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to ban travel from several countries to the US, citing security risks, with one of the countries being Venezuela. Venezuelans in Florida reacted to the ban, with one worrying about their visa.
26 minutes ago
Detained Columbia graduate claims ‘irreparable harm' to career and family as he pleads for release
NEW YORK -- A Columbia graduate facing deportation over his pro-Palestinian activism on campus has outlined the 'irreparable harm' caused by his continued detention as a federal judge weighs his release. Mahmoud Khalil said in court filings unsealed Thursday that the 'most immediate and visceral harms' he's faced in his months detained in Louisiana relate to missing out on the birth of his first child in April. 'Instead of holding my wife's hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone,' the 30-year-old legal U.S. resident wrote. 'When I heard my son's first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep.' He also cited potentially 'career-ending' harms from the ordeal, noting that Oxfam International has already rescinded a job offer to serve as a policy advisor. Even his mother's visa to come to the U.S. to help care for his infant son is also now under federal review, Khalil said. 'As someone who fled prosecution in Syria for my political beliefs, for who I am, I never imagined myself to be in immigration detention, here in the United States,' he wrote. 'Why should protesting this Israel government's indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians result in the erosion of my constitutional rights?' Spokespersons for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Khalil's 13-page statement was among a number of legal declarations his lawyers filed highlighting the wide-ranging negative impacts of his arrest. Dr. Noor Abdalla, his U.S. citizen wife, described the challenges of not having her husband to help navigate their son's birth and the first weeks of his young life. Students and professors at Columbia wrote about the chilling effect Khalil's arrest has had on campus life, with people afraid to attend protests or participate in groups that can be viewed as critical of the Trump administration. Last week, a federal judge in New Jersey said the Trump administration's effort to deport Khalil likely violates the Constitution. Judge Michael Farbiarz wrote the government's primary justification for removing Khalil — that his beliefs may pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy — could open the door to vague and arbitrary enforcement. Khalil was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under Trump's widening crackdown on students who joined campus protests against .
26 minutes ago
Peruvian migrant acquitted in the first trial over the new militarized zone at US-Mexico border
EL PASO, Texas -- A Peruvian woman who crossed the U.S. border illegally was acquitted Thursday of unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone in the first trial under the Trump administration's efforts to prosecute immigrants who cross in certain parts of New Mexico and western Texas. Adely Vanessa De La Cruz-Alvarez, 21, was arrested last month near the West Texas town of Tornillo after she entered the U.S. from Mexico by walking across the riverbed of the Rio Grande, court documents show. In addition to being charged with entering the country illegally, she was charged with accessing a military zone. She is among several other immigrants who have been charged under the law since President Donald Trump's administration transferred oversight of a strip of land along the border to the military. It is as part of a new approach the Department of Justice is taking to crack down on illegal immigration. The Associated Press left messages Thursday with De La Cruz-Alvarez's attorney, Veronica Teresa Lerma. The lawyer told The Texas Tribune the acquittal is significant. 'Hopefully, this sets the tone for the federal government,' Lerma said, 'so they know what the El Paso community will do with these charges.' Even before the woman's case went to trial, federal magistrate judges in neighboring New Mexico had dismissed similar cases, finding little evidence that immigrants knew about the zones. Lerma was convicted of entering the country illegally and was already facing deportation, but could have faced up to 18 months in prison for entering the militarized zone. Despite the verdict, U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons of the Western District of Texas said his office will continue to aggressively prosecute National Defense Area violations. 'At the end of the day, another illegal alien has been found guilty of illegally entering the country in violation of the improper entry statute and will be removed from the United States,' Simmons said in a statement. "That's a win for America." The administration wants to sharply increase the removal of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally as Trump seeks to make good on his pledge of mass deportations. The administration has deployed thousands of troops to the border, while arrests have plunged to the lowest levels since the mid-1960s.
