South African President Cyril Ramaphosa traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Trump at the White House. This meeting took place during a period of seriously damaged relations between the two countries, fueled by President Trump’s accusations of genocide against white farmers in South Africa and the later relocation of Afrikaner refugees to the United States.
According to Ramaphosa’s office, the visit is meant to “reset the strategic relations between the two countries.” According to AP News, the decline in U.S.-South African relations started earlier in the year. In February, President Trump signed an executive order ending all US financial assistance to South Africa. This decision came after South Africa accused Israel of genocide for its military actions in Gaza and filed a case at the International Court of Justice.
The executive order also repeated, without proof, claims that white South Africans of Dutch heritage, called Afrikaners, were being persecuted. On May 12, 2025, the first group of 59 Afrikaner refugees landed in Washington, D.C. on a plane arranged by the US government. Their arrival received an unusually warm welcome, including a speech by Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, who compared their situation to his own family’s escape from Nazi Germany. This event worsened tensions between the two countries.
South African president trying to mend tensions with the U.S.
President Ramaphosa openly condemned the Afrikaners who left, calling them “cowards” who refused to live in a modern, Black-led South Africa and who supposedly missed the apartheid era. According to CT Public, He rejected President Trump’s claims of persecution, saying, “We’re the only country on the continent where the colonizers came to stay and we have never driven them out of our country.”
He also denied accusations of land seizures and unfair treatment of Afrikaners, explaining that the land reform law focused on unused land meant for public benefit, not just taking property from white owners. President Trump, who is currently being accused of ‘executive overreach,’ along with his South African-born advisor, Elon Musk, has repeatedly claimed that “terrible things are happening” in South Africa. This is regarding the alleged mistreatment of Afrikaner farmers. The US government’s actions against South Africa went beyond cutting aid, including skipping G20 meetings hosted by South Africa and expelling South Africa’s new ambassador, who was labeled a “race-baiting politician” and accused of disliking Trump.
