South Africa has been a focus of President Trump’s criticism in his second term.
Mr. Trump has made invaluation that white farmers in South Africa are being killed in a genocide. On May 12, Mr. Trump welcomed some of those farmers in the United States as refugees. He also drove the ambassador of South Africa to the United States and cut off American aid.
South Africa gets the chance to refute directly what it says, Mr Trump’s wrong information with the planned visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House on Wednesday.
Mr. Ramaphosa stands for the political challenge to be detained in the principles of his country without making the Lord Trump angry. America is the second largest trading partner of South Africa, but government officials say that much of their policy that makes Mr. Trump upset is necessary to reverse the racial inequality created during apartheid.
Mr Ramaphosa is expected to try to convince Mr Trump that the United States has much to be gained in 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 perhaps the loudest critic of the leader.
Afrikaner -refugees
South African officials have disputed Mr. Trump’s claim that Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority that created and led the apartheid regime, are being prosecuted and killed at home.
South African police data do not support the story of mass murder. From April 2020 to March 2024, 225 people were killed on farms in South Africa, according to South African police officers. But many of the victims – 101 – were current or former employees who lived on farms who tend to be black. Fifty -three of the victims were farmers, who are usually white.
Mr. Ramaphosa is planning to call Mr Trump to support an independent investigation into the claims of the genocide, said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesperson for the South African president.
Since his first term, Mr Trump has embraced claims from some Afrikaners that they are the target of massive murders in rural communities, where many of them have farms, and that they are confronted with discrimination in recruitment, land ownership and other areas.
In January, Mr. Ramaphosa signed by law A measure that enables the government to grab private land without offering compensation when it is in the public interest. Mr. Trump then issued an executive order in February and offered the refugee status to Afrikaners. This month, top officials welcomed 59 Afrikaners as refugees at an airport near Washington.
Elon Musk
Mr. Musk is one of the loudest critics of his native country and uses posts on X to strengthen Mr Trump’s claims that white South Africans suffer from genocide and racism.
Mr. Ramaphosa has several times with Mr. Musk spoke in an attempt to tempt him to do business in the country he left as a teenager. He hopes to continue that field in the White House, where he expects Mr. Musk will be part of the delegation of Mr. Trump, said the Lord Magwenya.
Mr. Ramaphosa is planning to increase the possibility that Tesla could build charging stations for electric vehicles throughout South Africa and receive favorable rates for Teslas in exchange 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 combat the accusations of the Afrikaner Genocide of Mr. Trump by pointing out the support of America for Israel. His spokesperson said that Mr. Ramaphosa will claim that “it is laughable that you can use the genocide word over South Africa, while on the other hand you look the other side where the actual genocide is committed.”
South Africa raised genocide against Israel in 2023 in The Hague, related to Israel’s behavior in his war against Hamas in Gaza. Some South African government officials and analysts said they believed that the charges of the genocide contributed to the attacks of the Trump government on their country.
Mr. Ramaphosa is planning to lean in areas of coordination he has with Mr Trump on Israel, such as the need to ensure that humanitarian aid comes to Gaza.
This can be a complicated balance for Mr Ramaphosa to strike. In principle, South Africans have long been equated what they experienced during apartheid on what Palestinians remain under the control of Israel.
Israel has strongly denied the accusation of genocide to the court and it has long rejected the comparison of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians with apartheid.
Mr. Trump has also been critical of what he regards as the pleasant relationship of South Africa with Iran and Hamas; South Africa has recently involved diplomatically with both. That can be pressure points that Mr Ramaphosa will have difficulty bending.
A new trade agreement
While the future of a preferential trade program for African countries of Sahara remains in question, Mr Ramaphosa is planning to propose a trade agreement for South Africa.
Mr Magwenya refused to offer the details of the proposal, but said that it could look at areas in which the two countries could increase trade, such as the energy sector.
South African officials are of the opinion that an appeal to the economic and business interests of Mr. Trump would be the best way to get past the deep philosophical differences they have with him.
In 2023, South Africa exported $ 13.9 billion in goods to the United States and the largest market in Africa Zuiden was the Sahara for American import, with $ 7.2 billion in goods.
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