PRETORIA, South Africa – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has strongly condemned Wednesday’s joint press briefing between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump, claiming the diplomatic meeting devolved into a targeted discussion about EFF Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema and his stance on land reform.
In a statement released within hours of the high-stakes White House meeting, the EFF accused both presidents of using diplomatic relations as a pretext to undermine the party’s position on returning land to African people. “The meeting, which came under the pretext of discussing diplomatic, trade and economic relations, ended up being a discussion about the President and Commander in Chief of the EFF Julius Malema,” the statement declared.
The controversy centers on Trump reportedly playing video clips of Malema speaking about land distribution and the song “Kill The Boer,” which the EFF maintains was declared part of African heritage by South Africa’s Equality Court. According to the EFF statement, Trump questioned why Malema hadn’t been arrested for his positions.
“In an act of cowardice, Cyril Ramaphosa blatantly denounced the rulings of the courts of the country he is a President of,” the EFF statement continued, accusing Ramaphosa of forming a pact with Trump to prevent “genuine transformation” in South Africa.
The meeting occurs amid deteriorating US-South Africa relations, with Trump having cut aid to South Africa in February and recently granting refugee status to 59 white South Africans, claiming they face persecution. South Africa has strongly denied these allegations.
Land reform remains a central issue in South African politics. The EFF, founded by Malema in 2013 after his expulsion from the African National Congress (ANC), has consistently advocated for expropriation without compensation to address historical imbalances dating back to apartheid and colonial rule.
Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen and businessman Johann Rupert, both white South Africans, reportedly joined Ramaphosa’s delegation in an attempt to counter Trump’s claims of anti-white persecution.
The EFF statement further alleged that the South African delegation failed to adequately defend the country’s land reform policies or counter what it called “the false narrative of a white genocide” during the meeting.
The incident marks another flashpoint in South Africa’s complex political landscape, where issues of land ownership and economic transformation remain contentious nearly three decades after the end of apartheid.
