In a bizarre moment during a White House meeting, President Donald Trump showed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa a video he claimed was evidence of a mass genocide against white farmers in South Africa. According to Trump, the footage depicted a “burial site” for over 1,000 slain white farmers.
“These are burial sites — over a thousand — of white farmers,” Trump asserted. “And those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning… They’re all white farmers.”
But in reality, the video was of a memorial for two farmers, Glen and Vida Rafferty, who were murdered in Normandien, South Africa, in 2020. The footage showed white crosses lining a South African highway, a tribute organized by local residents to raise awareness of farm killings in the area. This wasn’t a mass grave, as Trump suggested, but a protest demonstration in honor of the couple.
When Ramaphosa questioned the location of this “burial site,” Trump could only say, “It’s in South Africa.”
The demonstration, which took place after the Raffertys’ murder, involved a convoy of vehicles driving past the crosses to pay respects, not a funeral procession for “over a thousand” white farmers. Bob Hoatson, one of the participants, clarified that the event was about “farm murders” in general, not specifically about white farmers.
CNN quickly debunked Trump’s claims. “He was claiming that there was a thousand roadside graves,” said anchor Boris Sanchez. “This is a video that had been of a political statement… not of actual gravesites.”
Larry Madowo, a journalist based in South Africa, pointed out that if 1,000 white farmers had been killed in South Africa, “it would be impossible to hide that.” He also noted that Trump’s claims had unwittingly given validation to white supremacists in South Africa. “This was overall a very good day for white supremacists in South Africa,” he said.
During the meeting, Trump also flashed around tabloid articles and a blog post from American Thinker, pointing to a photo of body bags he claimed were more dead white farmers. But the image was actually from the Democratic Republic of Congo — Red Cross workers responding after a mass jailbreak in Goma, where women had been raped and killed.
“Look, here’s burial sites all over the place. These are all white farmers that are being buried,” Trump shouted.
That was false.
He also played clips of South African radical Julius Malema chanting “kill the Boer,” trying to paint the entire country as hostile to white farmers. Ramaphosa stayed calm and explained that Malema’s party is a small fringe group with no influence on government policy.
“Our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying,” Ramaphosa told Trump.
Trump has fast-tracked refugee claims for white South Africans based on this idea of a targeted genocide — but there’s no data to back it up.
From March 2020 to April 2024, 225 people were murdered on South African farms. More than half were Black. Just 53 were farmers, most of them white. In 2024 alone, 44 people were killed in farm-related violence — only eight of them were farmers.
Reuters put it simply: “South African police recorded 26,232 murders nationwide in 2024… eight of the victims were farmers.”
Trump’s claims were based on distorted and misleading information, falsely portraying a memorial for two murdered farmers as a mass grave of 1,000 white victims.
