Foreign Pool Report #2 Some quotes from President Ramaphosa in the Oval
- From
- Cristina Olea Fernandez
- Sent
- Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 2:14 PM
Seated next to President Trump in the Oval, President Ramaphosa said that he came to the White House “to reset the relationship” between the two countries. He brought a golf book as a gift for President Trump, he thanked him for the respirators sent to South Africa during the COVID 19 pandemic, and during the pool spray he invited some members of his delegation to talk to President Trump in front of the cameras: professional golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and billionaire Johann Rupert asked for U.S. support and friendship.
When Trump talked about white South African farmers being “executed”, Ramaphosa and the members of the South African delegation said that their country does have criminality, but they argued that white people are not being disproportionately targeted, and they asked for U.S. drones and technology to improve security in South Africa. Ramaphosa said he wanted to seat with Trump and speak calmly about his concerns, like Nelson Mandela liked to do.
(Some context here: Boer is a Dutch and Afrikaans word that translates to farmer. The Boers are the Afrikaners, a white minority in South Africa, they descended from mainly Dutch colonists and led the apartheid regime).
Ramaphosa also raised the war in Ukraine, to ask for peace and encourage the negotiating efforts. And he told Trump “I am sorry I don’t have a plane to give you”, referring to the Qatari plane.
Cristina Olea
Washington Bureau Chief
Radiotelevisión Española
Public Television of Spain
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