Ghana: John Mahama Slams Trump For Attack On Cyril Ramaphosa, Says Africans Must Stand Together

Ghana’s President John Mahama has strongly criticised U.S. President Donald Trump for spreading false claims of a so-called “white genocide” in South Africa. In an opinion article published on Wednesday in The Guardian, Mahama said Trump’s comments, made during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, distort history and revive old patterns of racial manipulation.

Mahama described the meeting as one that revealed a dangerous attempt to rewrite South Africa’s painful past under apartheid. He noted that Trump’s claims of white genocide conflicted with the documented history of racial persecution and massacres that occurred during two centuries of colonisation and nearly 50 years of apartheid in South Africa.

“It is not enough to be affronted by these claims, or to casually dismiss them as untruths. These statements are a clear example of how language can be leveraged to extend the effects of previous injustices. This mode of violence has long been used against Indigenous Africans. And it cannot simply be met with silence – not any more”, he wrote.

Trump played a series of misleading video clips during the closed-door meeting, including scenes of alleged violence against white farmers, and footage of EFF leader Julius Malema chanting “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer.” Ghana’s president pointed out that one of the images shown was not from South Africa, but from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ramaphosa had pushed back by stating that there was no official government policy targeting white South Africans. However, Mahama said the incident shows how easily misinformation can be weaponised.

The racial persecution of Black South Africans was rooted in a system that was enshrined in law,” Mahama wrote, referring to apartheid. “It took worldwide participation through demonstrations, boycotts, divestments and sanctions to end apartheid so that all South Africans, regardless of skin colour, would be considered equal.”

Despite this progress, Mahama noted that economic disparity remains vast, with white South Africans, less than 10 per cent of the population, still controlling more than 70 per cent of the country’s wealth. He also pointed to the continued existence of whites-only settlements like Orania and Kleinfontein.

What, at this point, is there to be gained by viciously killing and persecuting people you’d long ago forgiven?” he asked.

Mahama rejected Trump’s genocide claims as dangerous and unfounded, especially in a global context where real atrocities are unfolding. He also quoted Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o to emphasise the power of language in shaping power and identity:

Language conquest, unlike the military form, wherein the victor must subdue the whole population directly, is cheaper and more effective.”

As West Africa Weekly reported last week, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema also condemned Trump’s actions. In a statement, the EFF accused both Trump and Ramaphosa of using the meeting to discredit its radical land reform agenda and to undermine liberation movements. The party described Ramaphosa’s failure to defend the chant “Kill the Boer” – which South African courts have upheld as part of the country’s liberation heritage – as an act of cowardice.

Mahama concluded his article by stressing the importance of preserving historical truth in the face of global disinformation and urged Africans to stand together in resisting such narratives.

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