Trump played up propaganda video during the meeting in the White House

It was not a deworting of the same cut as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyj was exposed to earlier this year. But the meeting between Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump still became a highly bizarre event where Trump threw out one lie after another during a meeting that culminated with a movie show that would strengthen Trump’s thesis on an ongoing genocide on white South Africans.

The meeting took place at lunchtime (local time) on Wednesday in the White House, where South Africa’s president had traveled to cast oil on the waves after several months of Trump attacks. The US president has been told that there is a genocide of white South Africans and he also believes that the South Africa government wants to confiscate land from white farmers in South Africa. None of this has any foundation in reality.

The meeting started well for Ramaphosa Who knew what to say to attract smiles from his American colleague. It was about business, golf and initiative for peace in Ukraine and Congo.

But then came the questions from the press about the alleged genocide and it was then that Trump asked his co -workers to press the play button.

On a video, quotes were played from the left -wing politicians Julius Malema and Jacob Zuma who talked about killing white and/or taking their ground. Ramaphosa looked to want to sink through the armchair he sat in and he knew very well that an overly strong dismissal of propaganda video would cause the situation to degenerate.

Malema and Zuma are his political enemies And the two have been marginalized completely after last year’s election which resulted in the ANC creating a coalition with the Liberal Conservative opposition party DA, whose party leader John Steenhuisen was also in the White House.

But Trump called them « people with power », even though both Zuma and Malema are completely out in the political cold and have hardly been heard during the past year.

Ramaphosa highlighted this, but he was smart enough to bring alternative spokesmen: former opposition leader Steenhuisen and the country’s richest man, businessman Johann Rupert.

« We have decided to rule together just because they have no influence, » said Steenhuisen.

But crime in South Africa is a problem. Around 20,000 people are murdered each year in the country. This highlighted Rupert when he turned to Trump:

– You have emphasized what happens when large companies leave cities. If we do not grow our economy, then lawlessness will increase.

All over South Africa, the exchange of views was followed by TV viewers and thousands of people commented on the broadcaster SABC’s broadcast on Youtube. Judging by these viewers, Ramaphosa made well.

His spokesman Vincent Magwenya had said before the meeting was that the purpose was to « bridge the gap between Donald Trump’s perception of reality and our own perception of our reality ». It is doubtful whether Ramaphosa succeeded in this.

But the reactions were still positive From the audience that applauded Ramaphosa’s patience. And if Malema and Zuma have already been unpopular in South Africa, their reputation has dropped further after Trump’s film screening.