South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is headed to the White House on a delicate mission to persuade US President Donald Trump to make deals with his country rather than scold and punish it as he has done since the start of his second term.
Attacking South Africa's land reform law and its genocide court case against Israel, Trump has cancelled aid to the country, expelled its ambassador and offered refuge to White minority Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims Pretoria says are unfounded.
"Whether we like it or not, we are joined at the hip and we need to be talking to them," Ramaphosa said on South African state television before flying to Washington to meet Trump.
The stakes are high for South Africa. The United States is its second-biggest trading partner after China, and the aid cut has already resulted in a drop in testing for HIV patients.
Ramaphosa will offer Trump a broad trade deal, said a spokesperson for the trade ministry, declining to give details.
White South Africans demonstrate in support of US President Donald Trump in front of the US embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. – AP
For his part, Trump is likely to demand that US companies are exempted from "racial requirements", a White House official said.
South Africa has laws to compel businesses to hire and promote Black South Africans, including a requirement for large companies in some sectors, such as mining and telecommunications, to have a 30 per cent equity stake held by disadvantaged groups.
Ramaphosa is unlikely to agree to weaken such rules, which are core to his government's aspiration to restore racial justice after centuries of colonialism and apartheid.
"There's political problems here that lie at the heart of the breakdown in the relationship," said Joshua Meservey, senior fellow at conservative US think tank the Hudson Institute, cautioning that deal-making may not be enough to overcome them.
Afrikaner refugees from South Africa holding American flags arrive in Washington. – AP
Nevertheless, Ramaphosa plans to discuss opportunities for Tesla and Starlink, companies owned by Trump's ally Elon Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa and has accused Ramaphosa of pursuing anti-white policies, which he rejects.
Discussions could include favourable tariffs for Tesla's imports into South Africa in return for building electric vehicle charging stations, and licensing for Starlink, Ramaphosa's spokesperson said.
Trump has accused South Africa of seizing land from White farmers and of fuelling disproportionate violence against white landowners with "hateful rhetoric and government actions".
Pretoria says these claims are inaccurate and "fail to recognise South Africa's profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid".
What to know ahead of the Trump-Ramaphosa meeting
Will Trump stand by the genocide allegation?
Trump's criticism of South Africa began in early February in a post on Truth Social. In it, he accused South Africa's government of seizing land from white Afrikaner farmers and a "massive Human Rights VIOLATION" against members of the white minority.
Trump's allegation that Afrikaners were being mistreated was at the centre of an executive order he issued days later that cut all US assistance to South Africa. He went further this month, alleging there was a “genocide” against white farmers, which has been denied by the government and farmers themselves.
The Trump administration has brought a small group of white South Africans to the US as refugees in what it says is the start of a relocation program for those being persecuted.
The US has been asked if it will stand by that genocide allegation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS that it would and that the administration felt there was evidence, citing instances of white farmers being murdered and claiming some were being “forcibly removed” from their properties.
Some white farmers have been killed in violent home invasions. But the South African government says the causes behind the relatively small number of homicides are misunderstood by the Trump administration – they are part of the country's severe problems with crime and not racially motivated, it says. Black farmers have also been killed.
The South African government denies any property has been seized from white farmers and says that is misinformation.
South Africa's contentious land law
Trump might confront Ramaphosa on South Africa's contentious new land expropriation law, which has been criticised at home and is the subject of a legal challenge. The law gives the government the ability in some cases to take land without compensation.
South African Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who is white and a member of a different political party from Ramaphosa, said in an interview that the law needs to be looked at. But, he said, no land was being seized from farmers, and claims of genocide and ongoing land expropriation were false.
“When you mischaracterise things like that and this misinformation gets out, it does have real-world consequences,” said Steenhuisen, who is part of the South African delegation in Washington. “And we've seen with the United States what those real-world consequences are.”
What is Musk's connection?
South African-born Elon Musk – an influential Trump ally – has been at the forefront of the criticism of his homeland, casting its affirmative action business laws as racist. Musk said on social media that his Starlink satellite internet service wasn't able to get a license to operate in South Africa because he was white.
South African authorities say Starlink hasn't formally applied. If it did, it would be bound by laws that require foreign companies to allow 30 per cent of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by shareholders who are Black or from other racial groups disadvantaged under apartheid. The government calls the affirmative action laws a cornerstone of its attempt to reverse the injustices of apartheid.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday, quoting unnamed sources, that South Africa was willing to negotiate on easing those laws for Musk's Starlink in an attempt to defuse tensions with the US.
Ramaphosa didn't comment on any possible discussions with Musk or his representatives when asked by South African reporters in Washington, saying: “We are a sovereign country and we are a very proud nation and we preserve our sovereignty.”
Getting 'Zelensky-ed'
Ramaphosa was also asked if he worried he might be “humiliated” in a public appearance with Trump. Parts of the South African media have questioned in the buildup to the White House meeting whether Ramaphosa might get “Zelensky-ed” – a reference to Trump's berating of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of the world's media.
Trump has directed much of his criticism at Ramaphosa and senior government officials.
“Terrible things are happening in South Africa,” Trump has said. “The leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things.”
Ramaphosa said he was not concerned the meeting would become confrontational or that he would be humiliated.
“South Africans are never humiliated, are they? South Africans always go into everything holding their heads high,” he said.