South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is slated to meet with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday in an attempt to salvage the fraught relationship between the two countries.
Ramaphosa pushed for the meeting amid growing tensions with the Trump administration, which has accused the Black-led South African government of being racist against its white citizens, seizing white farmers’ land and letting a “genocide” take place.
The South African leader said he hopes to correct what he views as damaging mischaracterizations of its government during his meeting, which will be Trump’s first with an African leader during his second term.
A White House official told The Associated Press the meeting is likely to focus on topics including the need to condemn politicians who “promote genocidal rhetoric” and a push for South Africa’s government to classify farm attacks as a priority crime.
Some white farmers have been killed in violent home invasions, but the South African government has said these attacks are part of the country’s crime problem and not motivated by race, noting some Black farmers have also been killed.
The White House official also told the AP that Trump is likely to call on the South African government to “stop scaring off investors,” in reference to its race-based trade barriers.
Hellbound and Down 