STORY: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (May 21) that there were many concerns about South Africa and he wanted to discuss those during a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House.

"We have many people that feel they're being persecuted, and they're coming to the United States. So we take from many ... locations, if we feel there's persecution or genocide going on," Trump said in the Oval Office.

"Generally, they're white farmers and they're fleeing South Africa, and .... it's a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don't want that."

Trump asked White House staff to play videos allegedly pertaining to the genocide in South Africa during his meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa, who sat quietly watching these videos, later said, "I'd like to know where that is because this I've never seen," these videos.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: SOUNDBITES FROM U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ON AFRIKANERS/SOUNDBITES FROM SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA/ TRUMP STAFF PLAYING VIDEOS PERTAINING TO SOUTH AFRICA GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS DURING MEETING/

REFILING TO ADD SOUNDBITES OF BILLIONAIRE JOHANN RUPERT, GOLFER ERNIE ELS AND CONGRESS OF SOUTH AFRICAN TRADE UNIONS PRESIDENT ZINGISWA LOSI AND FOOTAGE OF RAMAPHOSA REACTING TO VIDEO/

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (MAY 21, 2025)(U.S. NETWORK POOL – No use USA)

1. U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA AND U.S. AND SOUTH AFRICAN OFFICIALS SITTING DURING MEETING IN OVAL OFFICE

2. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“A lot of people are very concerned with regards to South Africa. And that's really the purpose of the meeting. And we'll see how that turns out. But we have many people that feel they're being persecuted and they're coming to the United States. And we take from many, many locations if we feel this persecution or genocide going on. And we had a lot of people, I must tell you, Mr. President, we have had a tremendous number of people, especially since they've seen this.”

3. DOGE CHIEF AND SOUTH AFRICAN BORN ELON MUSK LOOKING ON

4. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“Generally, they're white farmers and they're fleeing South Africa. And it's, you know, it's a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don't want that. And it's, you know, it's a kind of a different meeting. Normally, we have meetings, we talk about trade, and we'll be talking about trade and other things, but that certainly will be a subject that comes up.”

5. TRUMP SPEAKING

6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SAYING:

“(Reporter asking: What would it take for you to be convinced that there is no white genocide in South Africa?) Well, I can answer that for the President. (Ramaphosa joking with media) It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his good friends, like those who are here. When we have talks between us around the quiet table, it would take President Trump to listen to them. I'm not going to be repeating what I've been saying. I would say if there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here, including my Minister of Agriculture. He would not be with me. So, it'll take him, President Trump, listening to their stories, to their perspective. That is the answer to your question.”

7. SOUTH AFRICAN BILLIONAIRE JOHANN RUPERT, GOLFER RETIEF GOOSEN AND ERNIE ELS AND LOOKING ON

8. PEOPLE WATCHING VIDEO PERTAINING TO SOUTH AFRICA GENOCIDE ALLEGATION PLAYING ON SCREEN DURING MEETING

9. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“Both sides of the road you have crosses. Those people are all killed.”

10. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SAYING:

“Have they told you where that is, Mr. President? (Trump: No.) I'd like to know where that is, because this I've never seen. But, okay. (Trump: I mean, it’s in South Africa.) We need to find out.”

11. TRUMP, RAMAPHOSA AND OFFICIALS WATCHING VIDEO

12. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“(Reporter asking: What would you like President Ramaphosa to do about the situation just seen on the screen?) I don't know, I don’t know. Look, these are articles over the last few days, death of people. Death, death, death.”

13. TRUMP SPEAKING

14. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SAYING:

“Let me clarify that, let me clarify that because what you saw, the speeches that are being made, one - that is not government policy. We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves, political parties to adhere to various policies. And in many cases or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy. Our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying, even in the Parliament, and they are a small minority party which is allowed to exist in terms of our Constitution.”

15. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“But you do, which allow them to take land. (Ramaphosa saying: No, no, no, no no.) You do allow them to take the land and then when they take the land and they kill the white farmer and when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them.”

16. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SAYING:

“There is criminality in our country. People who do get killed, unfortunately, through criminal activity are not only white people. Majority of them are black people. And we have now…”

17. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“The farmers are not black, I don’t say that's good or bad, but the farmers are not black. And the people that are being killed in large numbers, and you saw all those gravesites and those are people that loved ones going, I guess on a Sunday morning. They told me to pay respect to their loved ones that were killed, their heads chopped off, they died violently. And, you know, I mean, we're here to talk about it and we only get involved here. But I will say this, that if the news wasn't fake like NBC, which is fake news, totally one of the worst ABC, NBC, CBS, horrible. But if they weren't fake news like this jerk that we have here, if we had real reporters, they'd be covering it. But the fake news in this country doesn't talk about that.”

18. RAMAPHOSA SPEAKING

19. (SOUNDBITE)(English) BILLIONAIRE JOHANN RUPERT, SAYING:

"We have too many deaths, but it's across the board. It's not only white farmers, it's across the board. We need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones. I actually got drones united for the peace box to stop elephant and rhino poaching.”

20. RUPERT SPEAKING AND TRUMP AND RAMAPHOSA LISTENING

21. TRUMP AND RAMAPHOSA LISTENING TO JOURNALIST

22. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SOUTH AFRICAN TRADE UNIONS PRESIDENT ZINGISWA LOSI, SAYING:

“And the problem in South Africa, it is not necessarily about race, but it is about crime. And we think that we are here to see how do we both nations work together to reset, to really talk about investment, but also help us in how we can have the technology and everything that is needed, President.”

23. ELS SPEAKING

24. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SOUTH AFRICAN GOLFER, ERNIE ELS, SAYIING:

“So, what I'm trying to say is, you know, this has been a long time coming. That's why we really wanted to meet you and the administration and see our way forward, because we still want to see our country flourish. You know, we got some great things going on, businesses getting involved with government farming. Farmers are getting involved in local municipalities, trying to rebuild some of the infrastructure that's been decaying for a long time. So, there's a lot of co-existence going on and help from a lot of areas. But we need, we need the US to push this thing through.”

25. RAMAPHOSA AND TRUMP AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE/