The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, Julius Malema, has lashed out at United States President Donald Trump and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, branding them “a group of older men” who gathered to “gossip” about him.
This follows a high-level meeting at the White House, where Trump confronted Ramaphosa with claims that white farmers in South Africa were being killed and “persecuted”.
The discussion, which started on a friendly note, became tense when Trump demanded that his South African counterpart respond to allegations of ‘white genocide’ and land expropriation in South Africa.
Calling for the lights to be dimmed, Trump directed attention to a screen where a video of Malema’s controversial speeches played, including footage of him allegedly chanting “Kill the boer (whites), the farmer.”
The moment appeared to catch President Ramaphosa off guard.
Visibly uncomfortable, he turned to Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen for assistance in addressing the topic of farm killings.
In response, Malema took to the social media platform X to accuse both leaders of using his name to deflect from substantive issues.
“A group of older men meet in Washington to gossip about me,” he wrote.
“No significant amount of intelligence evidence has been produced about white genocide. We will not agree to compromise our political principles on land expropriation without compensation for political expediency,” Malema added.
The video had resurfaced months earlier on social media and drew criticism from American billionaire Elon Musk.
The Tesla CEO reposted the clip on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “He is chanting ‘kill the white farmers’ to a cheering stadium.”
However, the South African president has denied the confiscation of land from white farmers under the country’s land expropriation law.
The law was signed in January and aims to redress the historical inequalities of white minority rule.
“No, no, no, no,” Mr Ramaphosa responded. “Nobody can take land.”
He also stated that most victims of South Africa’s notoriously high crime rate are black.
Earlier in the year, Trump suspended funding to South Africa on account of alleged mistreatment of some of its citizens without regard for their rights.
Last week, the US government admitted 59 white South Africans as refugees after they claimed they were fleeing violence and discrimination.
In response to this, Ramaphosa had said, “We all know as South Africans, both black and white, that there’s no genocide here. We are not genocidal. We are not committing any act of hatred, act of retribution or violence against anyone.”
Speaking to reporters at his Washington hotel after the meeting with Trump, Ramaphosa downplayed the drama that played out in the White House.
BBC quoted the South African president as saying his team had a “robust engagement” and a “rather pleasant lunch” with the Trump administration.
“I was rather pleased that there was a rather firm agreement and undertaking that we’re going to continue engaging.”
Ramaphosa insisted that the visit was a “great success”, and that while the South African media “wanted to see drama”, he was “sorry we disappointed you somewhat”.
He added that he expects Trump to attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg later in 2025.
