President Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday on Wednesday at the White House, with the billionaire of South African origin Elon Musk present, for a critical conversation in the middle of the tensions between the United States and South Africa.
An official of the White House confirmed that Musk will join the meeting With the two world leaders, while Mr. Trump echoes Musk’s assertion that genocide is committed against white Afrikaners.
The United States accepted 59 White Afrikaners last week, granting them the status of refugees. Trump repeatedly said that white farmers in South Africa had “genocide” objectives – an allegation in South Africa rejected – and insists that South Africa is “out of control”.
The South African government denies that white Afrikaners faced racial discrimination. And Ramaphosa considered the “cowards” of individuals for resettlement in the United States
The Ramaphosa office said that the White House meeting, which should start at 11:30 a.m., will offer a “platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries”. Mr. Trump has taken new price In South Africa, as it has practically everywhere else.
Afrikaners are white South Africans of Dutch origin who lived in South Africa for four centuries. In addition to English, Afrikaners have their own language, Afrikaans, which has its roots in Dutch and is one of the 12 official languages of South Africa.
The accelerated process for Afrikaners is involved while the Trump administration strives to suspend the refugee admission program, taking several judicial disputes.
In a tense exchange during an audience on Capitol Hill Tuesday on budgetary issues, the Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginie asked the Secretary of State Marco Rubio if the Afrikaners were more persecuted than the Uighurs or the Rohingyas, or that the dissidents in Cuba, Venezuela or Nicaragua, or those who are threatened by Taliban, should be returned to Afghanist.
Kaine suggested that the Trump administration gives preference to Afrikaners due to the color of their skin, and asked Rubio why the United States should prioritize Afrikaners. Rubio said Afrikaners are a “small subset”.
“This is a new problem,” said Rubio. “And the president identified it as a problem and wanted to use it as an example. But it is different to have these refugee programs which essentially spent money to put people in the communities and welcome them, and that acted as a magnet.”
“Let me challenge you, and I’m just going to say for the public, if you want to understand the quotation, the persecution, the Afrikaner farmers, go watch the composition of the South African government,” Kaine replied. “Since July 2024, there has been a government of national unity. And the opposition party today – the ancient – the Afrikaner party, the Alliance democracy, is part of the govering coalition. They joined the govering coalition a year ago, and the leader of this party was given the Minister of Agriculture Jan Steenhuisen, and he is the leader of the former Afrikaner party, still largely representing the Afrikers. Agriculture in South Africa at the moment.
Caroline Linton and
contributed to this report.
