Latest news with #GenocideClaims
Irish Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Ramaphosa to face into a storm when he meets Trump, whose list of grievances against South Africa is long
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa's meeting with Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday could be a defining moment in US- South African affairs, given the fraught relationship both countries have endured in recent years. According to South Africa's presidency, Ramaphosa sought out the engagement with the US president 'to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries', which has deteriorated dramatically since Trump assumed office for his second term in January. The meeting at the White House comes over a week after the US welcomed 59 Afrikaners, a white minority group that controls much of South Africa's commercial agriculture, as 'refugees'. Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that Afrikaners face a 'genocide' in their home country because of their race and that the government is discriminating against them under its new land expropriation laws. Ramaphosa has outrightly denied these assertions and has accused the US president of spreading misinformation. READ MORE No political party or research group in South Africa has supported the claim that Afrikaners are facing a genocide. Attacks against members of the minority group, who are the descendants of South Africa's Dutch colonisers, are seen as part of the country's chronic crime problem that affects all communities. However, the difficulties between the two nations run far deeper than the disparate views on Afrikaners' treatment. The US is also at odds with Ramaphosa's administration over the genocide case it has taken against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. South Africa has accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity in Palestine during its war in Gaza against Hamas. In addition, Washington has taken umbrage with Pretoria in recent years over its desire to foster a multipolar world order and its refusal to cut ties with Iran, China and Russia. In response, South Africa has insisted the US will not dictate which countries it can have relationships with. Since coming to office Trump has cut all overseas aid to South Africa and hit the country's exporters with 31 per cent tariffs, citing its treatment of Afrikaners for its stance. There is also an expectation locally that South Africa will no longer benefit from the preferential trade it has received under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The US legislation assists African exporters and is up for renegotiation later this year. Most South Africans believe the US has taken these decisions to punish South Africa for refusing to do its bidding. In the week leading up to Wednesday's meeting, South Africans have been left to wonder what kind of reception their president will receive in the Oval Office, given how poorly Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy was treated by the US president and the vice-president JD Vance in February. However, the hope is that Ramaphosa, who is well-known for his negotiation skills, can strike a trade agreement with Trump, as he places a high priority on business deals that are beneficial to his country. Institute for Security Studies senior researcher Priyal Singh said he hoped the Oval Office meeting would not turn into a 'US publicity stunt to hammer home a false narrative about South Africa, and that Ramaphosa must just sit there and take it'. But Singh is concerned about how the talks will unfold as both sides seem entrenched in their positions. 'I doubt there is much appetite within the government for South Africa to make meaningful concessions, and it is unclear what the US might offer Ramaphosa were he willing to compromise on any of the issues that are up for discussion,' he said.
New York Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
South Africa's President to Challenge Trump on Afrikaner Refugees
South Africa has been a focus of President Trump's criticism in his second term. Mr. Trump has made debunked claims that white farmers in South Africa are being killed in a genocide. On May 12, Mr. Trump welcomed some of those farmers into the United States as refugees. He has also expelled South Africa's ambassador to the United States and has cut off American aid. South Africa will get its chance to directly rebut what it says is Mr. Trump's misinformation with President Cyril Ramaphosa's scheduled visit to the White House on Wednesday. Mr. Ramaphosa faces the political challenge of standing firm on his country's principles without angering Mr. Trump. America is South Africa's second-largest trading partner, but government officials say that many of their policies that upset Mr. Trump are necessary to undo the racial inequality created during apartheid. Mr. Ramaphosa is expected to try to convince Mr. Trump that the United States has a lot to gain from maintaining close ties with South Africa, the largest economy in Africa. The South African president will also try to reset his relationship with Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and is perhaps the leader's loudest critic. Afrikaner refugees South African officials have disputed Mr. Trump's assertion that Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority that created and led the apartheid regime, are being persecuted and killed at home. South African police data don't support the narrative of mass murder. From April 2020 to March 2024, 225 people were killed on farms in South Africa, according to South African police officials. But many of the victims — 101 — were current or former workers living on farms who tend to be Black. Fifty-three of the victims were farmers, who are usually white. Mr. Ramaphosa plans to call on Mr. Trump to support an independent investigation into the genocide claims, said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for the South African president. Since his first term, Mr. Trump has embraced claims by some Afrikaners that they are targeted in mass killings in rural communities, where many of them own farms, and that they face discrimination in hiring, land ownership and other areas. In January, Mr. Ramaphosa signed into law a measure that allows the government to seize privately held land without providing compensation when it's in the public interest. Mr. Trump then issued an executive order in February offering refugee status to Afrikaners. This month, top administration officials welcomed 59 Afrikaners as refugees at an airport near Washington. Elon Musk Mr. Musk has been among the loudest critics of his native country, using posts on X to amplify Mr. Trump's claims that white South Africans suffer from genocide and racism. Mr. Ramaphosa has spoken with Mr. Musk several times over the past year in an effort to entice him to do business in the country he left as a teenager. He hopes to continue that pitch at the White House, where he expects that Mr. Musk will be part of Mr. Trump's delegation, Mr. Magwenya said. Mr. Ramaphosa plans to raise the possibility that Tesla could build electric vehicle charging stations throughout South Africa and, in exchange, receive favorable tariffs for Teslas to be imported into the country. South Africa also has facilities available to launch rockets for SpaceX, Mr. Musk's space exploration company. Israel and the war in Gaza Mr. Ramaphosa plans to counter Mr. Trump's Afrikaner genocide accusations by pointing to America's support of Israel. His spokesman said that Mr. Ramaphosa will argue it is 'laughable that you can use the genocide word on South Africa, while on the other hand you're looking the other way where the actual genocide is being committed.' South Africa brought genocide charges against Israel at The Hague in 2023, related to Israel's conduct in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Some South African government officials and analysts said they believed the genocide charges contributed to the Trump administration's attacks on their country. Mr. Ramaphosa plans to lean into areas of alignment he has with Mr. Trump on Israel, such as the need to ensure that humanitarian aid gets into Gaza. This could prove to be a complicated balance for Mr. Ramaphosa to strike. As a matter of principle, South Africans have long equated what they experienced during apartheid to what Palestinians are enduring under Israel's control. Israel has strongly denied the genocide accusation at the court, and it has long rejected the comparison of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to apartheid. Mr. Trump has also been critical of what he perceives as South Africa's cozy relationship with Iran and Hamas; South Africa has recently engaged diplomatically with both of them. Those could be pressure points that Mr. Ramaphosa will have difficulty deflecting. A new trade deal While the future of a preferential trade program for sub-Saharan African countries remains in doubt, Mr. Ramaphosa plans to propose a trade deal for South Africa. Mr. Magwenya declined to offer specifics of the proposal, but has said that it could look at areas in which the two nations could increase trade, such as the energy sector. South African officials believe that appealing to Mr. Trump's economic and business interests would be the best way to get past the deep philosophical differences they have with him. In 2023, South Africa exported $13.9 billion worth of goods to the United States and was the biggest market in sub-Saharan Africa for American imports, taking in $7.2 billion worth of goods.
Arab News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
South African president to meet Trump on Wednesday over rising tensions
JOHANNESBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump in Washington next week amid strained ties between the two countries, Pretoria said Thursday. Tensions have been rising for months over a range of policy issues, culminating this week with the US resettling a first group of white Afrikaners that Trump claims are facing 'persecution' in South Africa. 'On Wednesday, 21 May 2025, President Ramaphosa will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest,' the presidency said in a statement released late Wednesday. The visit 'provides a platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries,' it said. Trump has repeatedly shared unfounded claims that white Afrikaners are facing a 'genocide,' a conspiracy theory that has been widely dismissed. White South Africans, who make up 7.3 percent of the population, generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the black majority of the country. Pretoria has said Trump's offer of refugee status to Afrikaners is 'entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa's constitutional democracy.'
