Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama has condemned recent remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump against South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling them “an insult to all Africans.”
Mahama’s statement, published in an op-ed in The Guardian, came in response to Trump’s resurfaced and widely discredited claims of a so-called “white genocide” in South Africa. Trump had accused Ramaphosa’s government of orchestrating land seizures and violence against white farmers, a narrative that international observers and fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked.
“This is not only a distortion of the truth, it is an insult to the memory of those who fought colonialism and apartheid across our continent. To use fear and misinformation to vilify South Africa’s post-apartheid journey is to attack the dignity of all African people,” said Mahama.
The controversy reignited following a recent meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa in which Trump reportedly presented manipulated images, some of which were later traced to unrelated conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as evidence of widespread violence against white South Africans. These images have since been dismissed by analysts as misleading and inflammatory.
Mahama, who served as President of Ghana from 2012 to 2017, and now the current president of Ghana, remains a prominent voice on African affairs, emphasized that Africa’s story cannot continue to be misrepresented by Western political figures for political gain.
“For too long, Africa has been defined by others. We must now insist on defining ourselves, our history, our struggles, our hopes,” he stated.
Mahama also said Black South Africans had forgiven white South Africans long ago. He said: “Had the Black South Africans wanted to exact revenge on Afrikaners, surely, they would have done so decades ago when the pain of their previous circumstances was still fresh in their minds. What, at this point, is there to be gained by viciously killing and persecuting people you’d long ago forgiven?”
Trump’s History of False Claims Against South Africa
The rift between Donald Trump and South Africa dates back to August 2018, when Trump tweeted that he had asked then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to investigate the “large-scale killing of farmers” and land seizures in South Africa. His comments were widely condemned both in South Africa and internationally, with critics accusing him of amplifying a white nationalist conspiracy theory that falsely portrays white South Africans as victims of a systematic campaign of violence.
South Africa’s government quickly dismissed Trump’s claims at the time, labeling them as “misinformed” and “alarmist.” The ANC-led government reiterated its commitment to a peaceful and legal process of land reform aimed at correcting the legacies of colonialism and apartheid.
Trump’s remarks echoed a narrative long pushed by far-right groups, particularly in the United States and Europe, which falsely suggest that South Africa’s post-apartheid land reforms are akin to racial persecution. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have found no evidence of a government-sanctioned campaign targeting white farmers.
