TRANSCRIPT
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has come to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump - and like many such meetings in the White House, it started off on a jovial note. RAMAPHOSA: "I'm sorry I don't have a plane to give you."
TRUMP: "I wish you did. If your country offered the US Air Force a plane, I would take it."
But the meeting quickly took on a different tone.
In scenes reminiscent of Mr Trump's February ambush of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US President accused the South African government of overseeing a genocide of Afrikaaners, a white minority group, under a land expropriation law signed in January.
TRUMP: "But you do, which allow them to take land."
RAMAPHOSA: "No, no, no, no no."
TRUMP: "You do allow them to take the land and then when they take the land and they kill the white farmer and when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them.”
At one point, the US President dimmed the lights in the Oval Office to play a video of a far-left politician playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that included lyrics about killing farmers.
TRUMP: "Turn the lights down. Turn the lights down and just put this on. It's right behind you.”
Trump also produced printed material he has claimed is evidence of white genocide in South Africa, one of which actually featured a photo from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Look, these are articles over the last few days. Death of people. Death, death, death.”
Afrikaner farmers in the country say this claim is false and there's no evidence of it.
Mr Ramaphosa was also having none of it.
He had arrived prepared for an aggressive reception, bringing popular white South African golfers including Ernie Els as part of his delegation and saying he wanted to discuss trade.
"Thanks for the honour of being here. We've known each other a long time."
Mr Ramaphosa has also told Mr Trump the land law is about redressing the historical inequalities of apartheid rule.
"There is criminality in our country. People who do get killed, unfortunately, through criminal activity are not only white people. Majority of them are black people... It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his good friends, like those who are here. When we have talks between us around the quiet table, it would take President Trump to listen to them. I'm not going to be repeating what I've been saying."
The meeting has come after President Trump's decision to cut all US assistance to South Africa and welcome several dozen white South African farmers to the U.S. as refugees.
That's despite other refugee applicants being denied or shunned, and the administration's efforts to deport Venezuelans after the Supreme Court allowed the government to strip legal protections away from around 300,000 asylum seekers from that country.
The administration has also been involved in reportedly sending the first group of migrants to South Sudan, a move confirmed by Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin.
"We found a nation that was willing to accept custody of these vicious illegal aliens. We are removing these convicted criminals from American soil."
Some critics say the myth of white genocide in South Africa has become a rallying point for the far right in the United States and elsewhere.
But Donald Trump maintains the South African refugees are a special case.
"Generally, they're white farmers and they're fleeing South Africa. And it's, you know, it's a very sad thing to see."
Back in South Africa, residents have said the South African president did not do enough to combat what they believe are false narratives coming from the Oval Office.
International relations expert Dr Zimkhitha Manana says the meeting was an ambush the South African government was not really prepared for.
"It's a new type of diplomacy. It's a Trump show, right? And I think they should have prepared for that and also have a comeback for many of the jabs that they received from the Trump administration. But we remain hopeful there will be some positive outcome out of this."
Others say they suspect there's a larger agenda at play - like student Dumisani Mnisi.
"I honestly don't understand why Ramaphosa is actually in the United States when Trump has made it very clear how he feels about South Africa, and his feelings on South Africa especially with what happened recently, regarding the Afrikaners just leaving. I also think that it's been used as a lure by Elon Musk to kind of negotiate Starlink being used in South Africa, and I think that's very problematic."
But Cyril Ramaphosa sees it differently.
Unlike President Zelenskyy, who sparred with Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance during their White House meeting and ended up leaving early, the South African leader kept his calm.
"But coming back to this issue, which I really would like us to talk about and talk about it very calmly. We were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems, people need to sit down around a table and talk about them.”
Mr Ramaphosa went on to praise Mr Trump's decor - gold accessories the president has outfitted the Oval Office with - and said he looked forward to handing over the presidency of the Group of 20 next year.
The US has so far sent mixed signals about its attendance at the G20 Summit in South Africa in November this year.
