Trump ambushes South African president with 'white persecution' claims
Newshour
BBC
4.4 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In an extraordinary Oval Office meeting, President Trump ambushes the South African president with claims of white farmers being persecuted.
We hear a response from Mzwanele Nyhontso, the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development for South Africa.
Also on the programme: how the Italian authorities dealt a blow to a powerful international arm of the mafia – the 'Ndrangheta; and a conservation success story from India, saving the Asiatic Lion.
(Photo: US President Donald Trump shows a copy of an article that he said it’s about white South Africans who had been killed in the Oval Office. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. Coming to you live from London, I'm Paul Henley. |
| 0:10.1 | Donald Trump seems to be getting into the habit of ambushing VIP guests in the Oval Office of the White House. |
| 0:16.8 | Volodymyr Zelensky famously had to fend off the anger of the American president live on camera. |
| 0:22.3 | Today it was the turn of the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa. |
| 0:26.9 | He's in Washington to try to reset a tricky relationship between the two countries. |
| 0:31.7 | Their meeting followed Washington's unfounded and discredited claims of genocide against white Afrikaners, |
| 0:38.6 | and it was that subject that dominated the public part of their meeting. |
| 0:42.3 | The two presidents had just exchanged pleasantries |
| 0:45.1 | and talked optimistically about the mutual benefits of future trade. |
| 0:49.5 | The atmosphere changed suddenly, though, |
| 0:51.9 | with a question from assembled reporters |
| 0:53.7 | about alleged killings of white af Africana farmers in South Africa. |
| 0:58.5 | What would it take for you to be convinced that there's no white genocide in South Africa? |
| 1:04.9 | Well, I can answer that for Preston. |
| 1:08.1 | It's for him. |
| 1:09.9 | I'd rather have him in. |
| 1:11.6 | I'd rather the answer. |
| 1:12.6 | It will be... |
| 1:13.6 | My President will respond to you. |
| 1:15.6 | Thank you, Mr. President. |
| 1:17.6 | It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africa, some of whom are his good friends, |
| 1:26.6 | like those who are here when we have talks |
... |
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