Ramaphosa and South African Media in Denial over Oval Office Visit

June 16th, 2025

It is difficult to focus on all the truly embarrassing moments for President Ramaphosa and his confused, unable to read the room team that went to the Oval Office to meet with President Trump in May 2025. Contrary to the opinion of Jacob Zuma, Julius Malema, a host of other malcontents and legacy South African media, the trip was indeed necessary. South Africa has repeatedly insulted and acted against the interests of the United States, its friends, partners and allies for well over two decades. On the rare occasion when a South African politician or journalist is willing to admit as much, the typical subordinate clause of their response is “but South Africa is a sovereign state.” While that is true, the United States is also a sovereign nation, one that predates South Africa by at least 124 years.

Contrary to the unsubstantiated myths spread like sea salt on every meal, Trump does not get his marching orders from Elon Musk and did not issue his Executive Order because Musk “influences” him. Daily, nearly 20 federal intelligence agencies produce prescient intelligence products for the President of the United States. He does not rely exclusively upon open sources or Elon Musk to reach conclusions or stay informed. Trump issued his Executive Order, not in response to an ongoing “white genocide,” but rather to get out in front to avoid one and in response to unjust racial discrimination against South Africa’s racial minorities.

The issues that have angered Washington long pre-date Trump, going all the way back to the Rome Statute and the refusal of Pretoria to sign an Article 98 waiver in 2002 to protect U.S. troops. The concerns and issues are long standing and not trivial. Despite gifting South Africa nearly $500 million a year for decades, abating the death and misery toll of HIV, granting Pretoria duty free access to the U.S. market for 25 years with no reciprocity, giving South Africa’s Aspen Pharma hundreds of millions of dollars to produce vaccines, and sponsoring World Bank, IMF and AFDB loans and grants, South Africa has been a very ungrateful and disrespectful recipient of America’s largesse. The ANC has acted arrogantly and dismissively of their largest donor and most important trading partner. Trump has already ended 10 billion Rand in annual aid to South Africa that has crippled HIV surveillance programs, left many with no anti-retrovirals and in large measure has stopped all serious medical and scientific research at South Africa’s captured universities.

The ANC’s arrogance and cheek led a group of bi-partisan U.S. lawmakers to introduce a bill in the House of Representatives in February 2024 during the Biden Administration to re-evaluate the strategic relationship with a goal of sanctioning ANC officials. From the outset, when President Trump issued his Executive Order on February 7^th, 2025, South African politicians and media falsely claimed he was misinformed about what is occurring in South Africa. When that lie failed to resonate properly, they repeated the sovereignty line. Then came the flat-out denials and eventually the attacks on Trump for spreading “misinformation” about a “white genocide.” Naturally, none of that is true. The effort to obscure reality did not fool objective thinkers, but it sure muddied the waters, very successfully.

After announcing reciprocal trade tariffs on most countries around the world, including a 31 percent tariff for South Africa, President Trump then paused the high tariff rate for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate bi-lateral trade deals with Washington. Rather than act as Japan and South Korea did – sending high level trade representatives to meet with American officials only hours after the tariff announcement, South Africa never sent anyone.

After Pretoria’s shameful former ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was sent packing, South Africa did not send a new one. Ramaphosa did announce Mcebisi Jonas as a special envoy, but as of this writing (June 16^th, 2025) he has yet to depart Cape Town for Washington. With less than three weeks remaining to negotiate lower tariffs on South African exports, Ramaphosa has still NOT sent anyone to negotiate with Trump’s Administration. Hence the need for Cyril’s trip to meet with Trump. But Ramaphosa and his crew cannot read the room. They thought they would go to the States and “set Trump straight,” choosing the paths of denial, obfuscation and even lecturing the President of the United States in the Oval Office. What a sad spectacle and further evidence that South Africa has dismal, poorly informed leaders.

While an objective observer will admit what we all witnessed in the Oval Office was a disaster for South Africa and that Trump was more than gracious and wound up very annoyed at Ramaphosa’s tardy arrival and his subsequent comments, pandering in from of the camera, a few moments truly stand out. The first was when a South African reporter asked President Trump if he still believed there is a “white genocide” in South Africa. Trump’s answer surprised many in his careful, diplomatic response to not embarrass his guests. Trump said, “I’m not convinced of that.” Yet virtually every media outlet falsely claimed he said there is a genocide. Trump never said that in the Oval Office meeting.

The next unforgettable moment was when Annika Larsen asked Trump “what will it take for President Ramaphosa to convince you there is no “white genocide” in South Africa?” Ramaphosa rudely interrupted President Trump, saying he would answer the question directed to Trump. Then South Africa’s president lectured his host about listening to South African voices.

Ramaphosa then introduced his “white” agricultural minster, not his minister, but “his white minister.” Imagine for a moment if Trump did the same in introducing a member of his cabinet. It is truly shocking that no media even bothered to mention this unacceptable race peddling. COSATU President Zingiswa Losi inadvertently, and embarrassingly, admitted that South Africa is a violent country, something the ANC has repeatedly denied or played down for years. But the most telling moment of this South African debacle was when President Trump had the lights turned down.

While viewing the September 2020 Normandien cross protest after the Rafferty’s were murdered in a farm attack, Ramaphosa stated “have they told you where this is, this I have never seen.” To which Trump replied, “it’s in South Africa.” It is beyond implausible that Ramaphosa was not aware of this video, it was played widely on social media, on South African television, and reported in the media in 2020, when Ramaphosa was president. Rather than be embarrassed by Ramaphosa’s ludicrous statement, South Africa media glomed onto the fact Trump incorrectly called the crosses “grave mounds,” completely ignoring that they represented hundreds of white South Africans brutally tortured and murdered on farms.

Most media erroneously called the event an “ambush,” conveniently forgetting that South Africa requested the meeting, and the topic of racial oppression was not a state secret. Trump made it clear in his Executive Order in February entitled: “Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa.” How any South African could enter that room and not expect to be confronted about unjust racial discrimination is beyond silly to claim. Far from seeking to embarrass his guests, Trump’s decision to not include any of the numerous video clips of Ramaphosa over the past six years personally insulting Trump on camera and excluding recent video footage of ANC members trashing the United States was quite magnanimous. President Trump only publicly aired video clips of former ANC members like Julius Malema and Jacob Zuma calling for the murder of white South Africans, not Ramaphosa’s misdeeds. If Trump wanted to “ambush” Ramaphosa, it would have been a far more embarrassing video montage.

Since his return to South Africa, President Ramaphosa’s cavalier attitude to the suffering of South Africans, his continued denial of the country’s racially motivated laws oppressing racial minorities and his unsubstantiated claims that he “re-set” the relationship with Washington have only made matters worse. Unless Pretoria pulls a rabbit out of a hat at the June 2025 G-7 Summit in Canada, South Africa will soon face a 31 percent tariff and see jobs evaporate across the country as exports to America become prohibitively expensive and not competitive.

Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt