Trump to meet leader of ‘out of control’ South Africa at White House

JOHANNESBURG — President Donald Trump is scheduled to conscionable South African President Cyril Ramaphosa astatine the White House connected Wednesday for a make-or-break session, contempt caller accusations from the president this past Friday that South Africa is "out of control" and committing genocide.

Speaking connected Air Force One arsenic it returned from the Persian Gulf region, Trump repeated his assertion that achromatic Afrikaner South African farmers are being slaughtered and forced disconnected their land. The Afrikaners are descendants of mostly Dutch settlers who archetypal arrived successful South Africa successful 1652.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio elaborated connected these claims Sunday connected CBS, saying "all grounds [indicates] the farmers successful South Africa are being treated brutally."

Some 50 Afrikaners were flown to the U.S. arsenic refugees past week. Rubio said there’s "more to come". South Africa, and its president, denies claims of genocide and harassment.

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White South Africans supporting President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was calved successful South Africa, stitchery for a objection successful beforehand of the U.S. Embassy successful Pretoria connected Feb. 15, 2025. (Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)

Could the Oval Office and the Wednesday gathering beryllium the mounting for a Zelenskyy-style dressing down of the South African president? In February, Ukraine’s president was progressive successful a shouting lucifer with Trump and others, which reportedly led to him being ejected from the White House.

"The gathering is acceptable to hap astatine a clip erstwhile the narration betwixt the 2 countries has soured to unprecedented lows," expert Frans Cronje, Yorktown Foundation for Freedom advisory committee member, told Fox News Digital.

Contentious issues:

• South Africa's ambassador to Washington was thrown retired of the U.S. for calling Trump a "white supremacist."
• South Africa took ineligible enactment against U.S. state Israel, accusing it of genocide successful its warfare successful Gaza, astatine the International Court of Justice.
• Ramaphosa’s ruling party, the ANC, has shown enactment for the panic radical Hamas.
• Trade and subject links with Iran and allegedly atomic co-operation.
• Shown enactment for the designated violent radical Hezbollah.
• Military links with Russia.
• The instauration of the arguable Land Expropriation Act, which is aimed astatine seizing onshore the authorities wants successful definite circumstances without compensation and which reportedly led to Trump’s absorption connected achromatic Afrikaner families and claims they are being killed.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, left, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin (ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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South Africa is "hosting Hamas and Hezbollah, doing concern with Iran’s IRGC, prosecuting Israel astatine the ICJ and cozying up to Beijing and Moscow. These choices person consequences," Max Meizlish, elder probe expert astatine the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

Meizlish said South Africa has "attracted the ire of the president and cardinal members of Congress, who play important roles successful shaping the aboriginal of U.S.-South African relations. Unfortunately, President Ramaphosa and his colleagues successful the ANC bash not look to afloat admit this fact. President Trump should importune connected meaningful alteration and beryllium acceptable to backmost his demands up with tools similar targeted sanctions and tariffs."

But volition the White House gathering beryllium icy, feisty, adjacent loud? Not from the South African side, erstwhile U.S. diplomat and Daily Maverick Associate Editor J. Brooks Spector told Fox News Digital. "Ramaphosa has a agelong way grounds of cautious negotiating with adversaries."

A antheral brandishes a replica artifact weapon during a pro-Palestinian objection organized by the South African absorption enactment Economic Freedom Fighters successful beforehand of the Israeli Embassy successful Pretoria connected Oct. 23, 2023. (Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)

"He doesn’t rise his voice, adjacent erstwhile others go heated. I’ve seen this firsthand. In a smoke-filled country successful 1990 successful South Africa’s dusty Free State, I watched Ramaphosa, past a person of a achromatic miners' union, sometimes adjacent grin arsenic helium softly and successfully calmed down [the] often-shouting achromatic miners accused of sidesplitting achromatic colleagues underground and got the murders stopped."

Spector continued, "It is astir definite Ramaphosa and his squad person intimately studied the mode 3 caller anterior meetings with Trump person gone – those with Zelenskyy (Ukraine), Starmer (the United Kingdom) and Carney (Canada) – successful an effort to gully lessons astir however to contiguous their champion face. He volition not marque neophyte dialog mistakes."

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South African Embassy officials Vusimuzi Madonsela, seated right, and Cornelius Scholtz, seated 2nd left, speech astatine the International Court of Justice successful The Hague, Netherlands, connected May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Cronje told Fox News Digital that Ramaphosa and his state severely request the U.S.

"At home, Mr Ramaphosa is presiding implicit economical stagnation, with South Africa facing a complaint of economical maturation estimated astatine conscionable implicit 1% unneurotic with an unemployment complaint of implicit 30%. Mr. Ramaphosa will, therefore, beryllium nether large unit to unafraid a deal."

Some 600 U.S. companies run successful South Africa. Ramaphosa has taken 4 apical ministers to Washington hoping to connection caller deals, particularly reportedly connected earthy gas, minerals and cultivation merchandise income to the U.S., and perchance yet the licensing of Elon Musk’s Starlink outer net strategy successful South Africa.

Cronje noted a subject position the U.S. volition besides privation to consider: "South Africa commands the confederate oversea way betwixt the Indian and Atlantic oceans, which is an important commercialized and naval choke point."

Meizlish added that South Africa "holds immense mineral wealthiness and could anchor U.S. concern successful Africa, but that doesn’t mean we should crook a unsighted oculus to its alignment with America’s enemies." 

President Donald Trump listens to a question during an lawsuit astatine the Oval Office connected May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

South Africa’s chief rabbi, Dr. Warren Goldstein, told Fox News Digital that South Africa could "easily withdraw" its ICJ lawsuit against Israel if it wanted to, adding that "opinion polls amusement that determination is precise small home enactment for his (Ramaphosa’s) anti-Israel stance, with astir holding affirmative views towards Israel, sharing the aforesaid blimpish Christian values that profoundly resonate with Mr. Trump’s enactment basal successful the U.S."

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Meizlish said, "This sojourn can’t beryllium astir optics oregon deals that neglect to code the basal of South Africa's malign overseas policy. Trump needs to propulsion Ramaphosa to marque substantive, structural reforms successful his country's overseas argumentation portion besides creating pathways for greater U.S. investment. It can't conscionable beryllium 1 oregon the other."

As South African politicians swept done Washington connected Tuesday connected a large lobbying exercise, trying to get traction connected the thought of focusing connected trade, Rubio told senators during a proceeding that a reset successful relations mightiness beryllium possible.

"If there's a willingness connected their broadside to reset relations, evidently [that's] thing we'll explore, but we bash truthful with eyes wide unfastened to what they've done truthful far," helium said.

Fox News Digital reached retired to the South African authorities for remark but received nary response.