The Voice News: President Donald Trump sparked international controversy this week after presenting a misleading video during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, claiming it showed evidence of a “white genocide” in the post-apartheid nation.
The video, which was showcased during Wednesday’s summit, purportedly depicted over 1,000 graves of white South African farmers allegedly murdered due to their race. However, the footage has since been debunked, with local sources confirming it was not a burial site, but rather a symbolic roadside memorial between Newcastle and Normandien in South Africa.
When pressed on the president’s claims during a Thursday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on the narrative.
“The video showed images of crosses representing the lives of white farmers who have been killed and politically persecuted because of the color of their skin,” Leavitt insisted. “Those crosses represent their lives, and their government did nothing about it.”
NBC News’s Yamiche Alcindor pointed out that the video was demonstrably false and that the claims about mass killings had been disproven. Still, the administration maintained its position without providing evidence to support the president’s assertions.
The reality on the ground in South Africa tells a different story. According to data cited by the BBC and South African officials, the country faces high levels of violent crime across all communities, with an annual murder rate over nine times that of the United States. The vast majority of victims are Black or mixed-race men between the ages of 15 and 44, many from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Despite this, Trump’s narrative echoes a long-running right-wing conspiracy theory that white South Africans—particularly farmers—are systematically targeted in racially motivated killings, a claim widely debunked by experts and South African academics.
Piet Croucamp, a political analyst at North-West University in South Africa, rejected the idea of a white genocide. “There’s no sign of it—never has been,” he told CBS News. “In fact, whites are economically the strongest group. Sixty-four percent of all boardrooms in South Africa are still white. The average income of white South Africans far exceeds that of Black South Africans. They enjoy access to the best schools, private health care, and education. For white South Africans, this is still the land of milk and honey.”
Nevertheless, the notion continues to find support in some global circles. Elon Musk, South African-born billionaire and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has repeatedly claimed the country enforces “racist laws” that disadvantage white citizens. This week, Bloomberg reported that Ramaphosa’s government offered Musk a potential Starlink contract, despite the fact that the company does not meet the requirements of South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies.
South Africa’s apartheid legacy—officially dismantled in the 1990s—left deep inequalities that the nation continues to grapple with. While BEE laws were introduced to address the historic marginalization of Black citizens, critics including Musk argue they are discriminatory in reverse.
Even so, white South Africans remain among the wealthiest and most powerful demographics in the country, and claims of systemic persecution have been repeatedly refuted by local and international experts.