How Trump Used Altered Images to Push ‘White Genocide’ Claims in South Africa

In a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, former U.S. President Donald Trump repeated discredited claims of a “White genocide” targeting Afrikaner farmers in South Africa. He cited these allegations to defend his decision earlier this month to grant refugee status to a group of Afrikaners.

Ramaphosa rejected the notion of genocide, stating the violence in South Africa is driven by general criminality and not racial targeting. “People, who do get killed unfortunately through criminal activity, are not only White people. Majority of them are Black people,” Ramaphosa told Trump during the meeting.

According to police data, 12 people were killed on farms in South Africa in the last three months of 2024—one was a White farmer, while the rest were Black farm workers or security staff. Estimates suggest around 50 people are murdered on farms annually, but those figures do not break down the victims by race. The country recorded nearly 27,000 murders overall last year.

To support his claims, Trump presented a series of videos and articles, many of which included misleading or unrelated images. One such article from the conservative publication *American Thinker* showed a screenshot labeled as White South African farmers being buried. Reuters, the credited source, later clarified that the image was actually from the Democratic Republic of Congo and showed humanitarian workers handling body bags following a conflict in Goma. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at *American Thinker*, confirmed that Trump had misidentified the image.

In another instance, Trump pointed to a video showing white crosses that he claimed marked the graves of murdered White farmers. In fact, the crosses were symbolic, placed during a 2020 protest near Normandien. According to local media and participants, the demonstration aimed to honor all victims of farm violence and demand stronger government action, not just those who were White.

Trump also highlighted clips of Julius Malema, leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), singing an anti-apartheid song that includes the lyric “kill the Boer.” While Trump cited this as evidence of government-sanctioned hostility, Ramaphosa dismissed the claim, noting that Malema was expelled from the ruling African National Congress over a decade ago and that the EFF is a fringe party. South African courts have ruled that the song is a historical chant, not hate speech or a literal call to violence.

Despite being repeatedly debunked, Trump’s claims have reignited fears about the impact of misinformation in international diplomacy and raised concerns over how distorted narratives can inflame racial tensions.