South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly condemned President Donald Trump’s refugee policy for white Afrikaners as “racist,” marking one of the most direct criticisms from a world leader of Trump’s approach to the African nation.
In an interview with The Guardian published Thursday, Ramaphosa said Trump is “truly uninformed” about South Africa’s history and current reality. The South African leader described a meeting with Trump in May 2025 as both a “spectacle” and an “ambush.”
The confrontation occurred during an Oval Office meeting when Trump turned down the lights and showed Ramaphosa video footage that Trump claimed depicted violence in South Africa. The footage actually came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, not South Africa.
Trump also handed the South African president a stack of newspaper clippings as purported evidence of violence against white farmers. Some of the clippings were not even related to South Africa, according to The Daily Beast.
Ramaphosa firmly rejected Trump’s characterization of conditions in South Africa. He denied claims of white genocide and land seizures, stating there is no evidence that white farmers are being driven from the country or systematically mistreated.
Ramaphosa called the Afrikaner policy racist, expressing hope that Trump could see the truth of the situation.
The Trump administration extended refugee status to Afrikaners in May 2025, allowing white South Africans to apply for protected status in the United States. The United States welcomed 59 white refugees from South Africa. Afrikaners are descendants of Dutch settlers who once led the apartheid government that enforced brutal racial segregation.
The refugee policy has sparked controversy because Afrikaners remain, on average, significantly wealthier than Black South Africans decades after apartheid’s end. The decision came as Trump simultaneously slashed refugee programs for people fleeing war and persecution in other regions.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly defended the president’s stance, saying Trump has a “humanitarian heart” and is calling attention to the harrowing stories of Afrikaners.
The policy represents only one element of deteriorating relations between Washington and Pretoria. Trump refused to attend the G20 leaders meeting in Johannesburg in November and banned South Africa from attending the upcoming United States-hosted G20 gathering in Miami, Florida, later this year.
The United States imposed a steep 30 percent tariff on South African exports, the highest rate applied to any African nation. South Africa said the United States pressured Pretoria to end laws aimed at addressing wealth imbalances that persist from the apartheid era.
South African businesses received some relief when the United States Supreme Court struck down Trump’s global tariffs. Despite the tensions, South Africa was not removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides duty-free access to American markets for certain African countries.
Ramaphosa expressed bewilderment at Trump’s focus on his nation. He noted that South Africa poses no threat to the United States and questioned why the American president devotes such attention to the country.
The South African president is scheduled to step down as head of the African National Congress party in 2027. He will leave the presidency in 2029 when his term expires.
Despite calling Trump’s views racist, Ramaphosa said in a separate interview with Semafor that South African officials continue engaging with their American counterparts because of the United States’ strategic importance. He indicated these diplomatic efforts have shown some positive results.
The dispute highlights broader questions about how the Trump administration approaches Africa and evaluates human rights concerns. Critics argue the refugee policy for white Afrikaners reverses historical understanding of South Africa’s racial dynamics, where the white minority brutally oppressed the Black majority for generations.
Ramaphosa’s unusually direct criticism of Trump breaks with typical diplomatic protocol, where leaders generally avoid publicly condemning their counterparts in such stark terms. His willingness to call the policy racist underscores the depth of South African frustration with American policy.
The president said he hopes continued dialogue might help Trump develop a more accurate understanding of South African history and current conditions, though his comments suggested skepticism about whether such a shift is likely.