Is 'white genocide' real in South Africa? Unpacking Donald Trump’s Oval Office claim

A meeting between US President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House has reignited a heated and controversial debate: Is there a “white genocide” happening in South Africa?Trump is backed by Elon Musk who was born in South Africa and now serves as a senior adviser in the Trump administration.

The US president claimed during the Oval Office meeting on Wednesday that white South African farmers are being “slaughtered” and forced off their land in what he called an ongoing genocide.“Now this is very bad,” Trump said, pointing to a video shown at the White House. “These are burial sites right here… over a thousand… of White farmers.” He described a scene with white crosses on both sides of a road, claiming they marked the graves of murdered white farmers, adding, “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Ramaphosa pushes back: 'We need to find out'Ramaphosa appeared taken aback by the footage and asked, “Have they told you where that is, Mr. President? I’d like to know where that is. Because this I’ve never seen.”Trump replied: “I mean, it’s in South Africa, that’s where.” Ramaphosa responded, “We need to find out.”Ramaphosa also firmly denied the genocide claims, stating: “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.”

South Africa’s Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya also rejected Trump’s claims, telling ABC News, “There is no evidence of what’s being claimed here. The US has very sophisticated intelligence gathering… they’ll tell you that what is being propagated here is completely false.”Court ruling: ‘Not real’ and ‘clearly imagined’In February 2025, a South African court ruled that the notion of white genocide was “not real” and “clearly imagined.”

The judgment was made in a case involving a wealthy donor who wanted to give $2.1 million to a white supremacist group, the Boerelegioen. The donation was blocked.Attacks on farmers in South Africa are a real concern, and the country has a high murder rate of 45 per 100,000 people, reports ABC news. However, officials say there’s no evidence these crimes are racially motivated, as police records don’t track the victim’s race or list “farm murders” as a separate category.

Trump doubles down with executive orderDespite pushback from South Africa, Trump administration continues to stand by its claims. The White House issued a statement titled “President Trump is Right About What’s Happening in South Africa,” citing articles from media outlets like Fox News, Breitbart, and the BBC. However, many of the examples referenced individual incidents of violence, not organised genocide.Under an executive order signed in February titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” Trump suspended US aid to the country and directed fast-tracked resettlement for Afrikaner refugees, white South Africans of Dutch descent. Last week, 50 Afrikaners arrived in the US under the new policy. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “more are to come.”Trump told Ramaphosa, “We have had a tremendous number of people… generally they're White farmers and they're fleeing South Africa.”

Critics say Trump is cherry-picking refugeesThe decision to prioritise white South African refugees has sparked backlash, especially as Trump continues to restrict immigration from countries like Afghanistan, Haiti, and Venezuela.When asked by a reporter what he wanted Ramaphosa to do about the situation shown on screen, Trump replied, “I don’t know. I don’t know," reports Fox news. “I’m not going to be repeating what I’ve been saying,” Ramaphosa said.

“If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here, including my Minister of Agriculture.”Musk backs Trump’s narrativeElon Musk has previously voiced concerns similar to Trump’s. Musk has claimed that white South Africans are leaving due to “violence and racist laws.”While some Afrikaner communities in South Africa express fears over land expropriation and crime, South African officials maintain that these issues affect all citizens, and there is no evidence to support a claim of racially targeted genocide.