Ramaphosa addresses Trump's misinformation on farm murders in Day of Reconciliation speech

President Cyril Ramaphosa again addressed the perpetuation of misinformation on farm murders by United States President Donald Trump when he delivered his Day of Reconciliation address.

Ramaphosa was received by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli and Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie at the Ncome Museum, Nquthu Local Municipality, in the uMzinyathi District, KwaZulu-Natal, for the 2025 National Reconciliation Day Commemoration on Tuesday.

The president delivered his keynote address under the theme “Reaffirming Reconciliation for Future Generations,” which seeks to reaffirm South Africa’s commitment to unity, healing and nation-building.

In his address, he subtly tackled the remarks made by Trump last month on his social network “Truth Social” that the US did not attend the G20 in South Africa “because the South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Rights Abuses endured by Afrikaners and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers”. 

Trump said, “they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them. Perhaps worst of all, the soon-to-be-out-of-business New York Times and the Fake News Media won't issue a word against this genocide”. 

He also said that due to South Africa’s refusal to hand over the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from the US Embassy, “at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20”, which will be hosted in Miami, Florida.

In his address, President Ramaphosa said that commemorating the 16th of December provides the country with an opportunity to confront the past with honesty, acknowledge the complexities of our shared history and commit to building a peaceful future together. 

“Our democracy was built on reconciliation. South Africans bear the scars of centuries of dispossession and oppression, of resistance being met with batons and bullets. 

“Fellow South Africans, there are those, inside and outside our country, who are trying their utmost to paint a false picture of us as the South African people.

“They do not tell us what the surveys say: that the majority of South Africans are hopeful about the state of our democracy. They do not tell us that the majority of South Africans believe race relations have improved since 1994.

“They do not show the pictures of African, white, Indian and coloured children learning together, studying together and playing together,” Ramaphosa said.

“They do not want to talk about the friendships, neighbourliness and kindness shown by black and white towards each other. They don’t want to play all the social media clips we are seeing of young Afrikaners in veldskoens dancing to amapiano, and white teenagers speaking fluent isiZulu with their friends.

“Our country’s detractors are not talking about successful land restitution, of communities sharing the land and of successful black farmers,” Ramaphosa said.

“Instead, they are painting a false picture designed to sow fear and hatred. We must not let them succeed in their efforts. If we continue and together we build our nation as South Africans, there will be no one who will be able to plant the seed of discrimination and exclusiveness amongst us.”

Ramaphosa said that South Africa is a country of many diverse views where people not only understand our history in different ways, but also experience the reality of the present in different ways.

“We must not try to hide these differences. We must speak about them and continue to work to bridge them… For as long as the majority of black South Africans live in poverty, for as long as inequality persists, our country will not find true reconciliation,” Ramaphosa said.

theolin.tembo@in.co.za