WASHINGTON — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa defended his country’s land expropriation policy during a tense meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
Ramaphosa said South Africa’s constitution protects land ownership for all citizens and explained the government’s aim to redistribute land to address the injustices of apartheid, which lasted until 1994. He told Trump that “your government also has the right to expropriate land for public use,” referring to similar powers in the United States.
Trump interrupted, accusing South Africa of forcibly taking land and pointed to the deaths of White farmers, saying, “They’re being executed, and they happen to be White, and most of them happen to be farmers.” 
Ramaphosa rejected the claim that land is being taken without justification or that a “White genocide” is occurring.
The South African land expropriation law passed earlier this year allows the government to seize land without compensation in cases deemed “just and equitable” and in the public interest. The move aims to correct racial land imbalances rooted in apartheid, when Black South Africans—who make up over 80% of the country’s 63 million population—were largely dispossessed of land that remains predominantly owned by Whites.
The meeting also included a pointed reference to Elon Musk, the South African-born CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who stood nearby as Trump said, “Elon is from South Africa. I don’t want to get Elon involved,” while linking Musk to the land issue.
Relations between the two leaders were strained, with Trump repeating claims of persecution of the White minority in South Africa, allegations Ramaphosa dismissed during the Oval Office talks.
