Ramaphosa to Meet Trump as US-South Africa Tensions Escalate

• May 15, 2025

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit US President Donald Trump next week to address growing tensions and attempt to “reset” relations between their two countries, according to an official statement from Pretoria.

The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday at the White House, is part of Ramaphosa’s trip to the United States, which will run from Monday to Thursday. South Africa’s presidency said the talks will focus on bilateral, regional, and global matters of mutual interest. Pretoria views the visit as an opportunity to improve ties that have worsened since Trump’s return to office in January.

Relations between South Africa and the United States have become strained over several controversial issues. Most recently, Trump welcomed dozens of white Afrikaners as refugees, claiming they face “genocide” in South Africa—a claim widely dismissed by experts and the South African government. Afrikaners are mainly descendants of Dutch colonisers who enforced apartheid policies for nearly 50 years.

In February, Trump signed an executive order cutting all US funding to South Africa. He cited disagreements over South Africa’s land reform policies and Pretoria’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The US, a close ally of Israel, has strongly opposed South Africa’s legal action.

The executive order also offered asylum to Afrikaners, alleging they are being persecuted due to their race. However, South Africa’s government has consistently refuted these allegations, stating that there is no evidence of systematic persecution of white people in the country. Ramaphosa has criticised the US stance, saying it reflects a misunderstanding of South Africa’s broader problem of violent crime, which affects all communities regardless of race.

Another point of friction is South Africa’s affirmative action policies aimed at correcting historical injustices by advancing opportunities for the Black majority. These policies have faced criticism from some quarters in the US, especially concerning South Africa’s new land expropriation law. The law allows the government to take land for public benefit without compensation in certain cases. Pretoria insists this measure targets unused land and is not intended for confiscating private property. Nevertheless, some Afrikaner groups fear it could be used to redistribute land from white landowners to Black South Africans.

The upcoming meeting between Ramaphosa and Trump will be Trump’s first with an African leader since returning to the White House. The White House has not issued any statement regarding the meeting so far.