South Africa's police minister asserts that Trump manipulated truth to advocate for baseless accusations of genocide.
SOUTH AFRICA: Police Minister Denounces Trump's Misleading Claims About Farmers' 'Burial Sites'
Johannesburg - South Africa’s Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has refuted assertions made by US President Donald Trump during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last Wednesday. Trump claimed that a video shown in the Oval Office depicted burial sites for over a thousand white farmers, escalating his controversial narrative about a supposed white genocide in South Africa.
The video, which garnered public attention following the White House meeting, highlights an aerial view of a rural road marked with white crosses on both sides. Upon seeing the clip, Trump declared, "These are burial sites, right here. Burial sites, over a thousand, of white farmers, and those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning."
However, Mchunu clarified that the crosses in the video did not mark actual graves but were a temporary memorial established in 2020 during a protest against the killing of farmers across South Africa. The crosses were set up as part of a funeral procession for a white couple who had been killed in a robbery on their farm, according to the minister. A son of the couple and a local community member who took part in the procession corroborated Mchunu’s account, confirming that the crosses did not represent burial sites and were removed after the demonstration.
While South Africa grapples with high crime rates, farm killings account for only a small percentage of the country’s total homicides. Both white and Black farmers are victims of the violent crimes, and the government has condemned the violence against both groups.
Mchunu counters Trump’s claims that the temporary memorial sites represented more than a thousand burial sites as part of the US President's "genocide story." This phrase refers to Trump's allegations, made in recent weeks, that South Africa is engaged in a widespread campaign to kill white farmers and seize their land, amounting to a genocide.
"They are not graves. They don't represent graves," Mchunu explained. "It was unfortunate that those facts got twisted to fit a false narrative about crime in South Africa." The police minister added that South Africa respects the US President, but completely rejects his genocide story.
The White House, in response to Mchunu's remarks, cited press secretary Karoline Leavitt's comments from her briefing on May 20th. Leavitt had said that "the video showed crosses that represent the dead bodies of people who were racially persecuted by their government."
Data shows that out of 5,700 homicides in South Africa from January through March, six occurred on farms, and only one victim was white. The minister maintained that South Africa does not categorize killings based on race, but in the context of the allegations of genocide against white farmers, it is necessary to discuss the cases in that category.
Former South African lawmaker Lourens Bosman, who took part in the demonstration featured in the video, confirmed that it took place near Newcastle in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal in September 2020. Bosman stated that the white crosses were symbols for white and Black farmers and farmworkers who had been killed across South Africa over 26 years.
South Africa has strongly denied Trump’s claims that the government is fueling the persecution and killing of its minority white farmers. Ramaphosa had sought the meeting with Trump to change his perception of South Africa and correct misconceptions about the country to rebuild relations.
On February 7th, Trump issued an executive order that halted all US financial assistance to South Africa, accusing it of mistreating white Afrikaner farmers, seizing their land, and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy. The order specifically criticized Ramaphosa’s government for supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas and launching a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
[1] Fact-checkers and journalists, including BBC correspondents who visited the area shown in the video, have confirmed that the crosses were not burial sites but part of a protest highlighting farmer violence in general.[2] The claim of genocide against white farmers is not supported by evidence.[4] The narrative of white farmer genocide is linked to fringe groups and has been widely debunked by credible fact-checking organizations.
- The temporary memorial set up in South Africa, as depicted in the controversial video, was confirmed by the Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to not represent actual burial sites, but was established during a protest against farmer killings.
- The war-and-conflicts narrative about a supposed white genocide in South Africa, as asserted by US President Donald Trump, is not supported by evidence, according to fact-checkers and journalists.
- In the context of high crime rates and farm killings in South Africa, the government condemns the violence against both white and Black farmers, rather than categorizing killings based on race, as suggested by certain political claims.
- Classified under 'general-news' and 'crime-and-justice', the ongoing disputes between South Africa and the US regarding alleged farmer persecution, land seizure, and genocide have resulted in a halt of US financial assistance to South Africa, according to Trump's recent executive order.
