Diplomatic tensions between Pretoria and Washington could take a positive turn. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet US President Donald Trump next week to discuss bilateral relations.
Image: SihleMlambo/IOL
President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit the US to meet President Donald Trump on May 21.
The working visit is to 'reset the strategic relationship between the two countries', the presidency confirmed.
The presidency said Trump and Ramaphosa will meet at the White House in Washington DC to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest.
This is part of Ramaphosa’s four-day visit to the country.
The visit comes amid growing international attention to unfounded claims of racial discrimination against Afrikaners in South Africa.
Ramaphosa is expected to counter these narratives and highlight his administration’s commitment to building a non-racial, inclusive society.
On Monday, a group of over 50 Afrikaners arrived in the US after Trump granted them refugee status, alleging they faced persecution by the government.
The claim is that white people, particularly farmers, are being brutally murdered in the country.
“White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa, and the newspapers and the media and television media don't even talk about it,” Trump said.
This is a move that Pretoria has dismissed as lies and misinformation. Political parties, citizens, businesses, including AgriSA have condemned this as the worst thing ever done to taint the nation.
This was spread by the Afrikaner lobby groups, AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement after Ramaphosa signed the Land Expropriation Act. The groups turned down Trump’s offer to relocate to the US.
Meanwhile, Trump also threatened to boycott the G20 Summit in South Africa this November unless the country addresses what he calls a 'genocide of white Afrikaners.’