JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s top law enforcement official said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump wrongly claimed that a video he showed in the Oval Office was of burial sites for more than 1,000 white farmers and he “twisted” the facts to push a false narrative about mass killings of white people in his country.

Billionaire Johann Rupert's comments on gang violence in the Cape Flats during a meeting with President Trump have sparked a heated debate over the intersection of race and crime in South Africa.

During talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Washington on May 21, 2025, Donald Trump screened a video meant to support unfounded claims of the "persecution" of white farmers. This included aerial footage showing white crosses lining a road filled with a convoy of vehicles.

Mr Ramaphosa kept his cool. But the episode underlined Donald Trump’s warped views of South Africa—and how hard it will be to change them. The Trump administration has cut aid to Africa’s largest economy and seems set to cancel the preferential trade terms enjoyed by South Africa (and many other countries in the continent).

W hen the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer visited the White House in February, he charmed Donald Trump with an invitation from the British King Charles, playing to the presiden