Trump Displays Congo Images During South Africa Genocide Claims

During a contentious White House meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, former U.S. President Donald Trump presented misleading evidence to support his claims of a genocide against white farmers in South Africa. Trump held up a printout featuring an image purportedly showing burial sites of white South African farmers, but the photo was actually a screenshot from a Reuters video depicting humanitarian workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's city of Goma responding to violence related to M23 rebel attacks. The image originated from a 2023 video showing aid efforts after conflict in Congo, not South Africa. Trump also played a video clip misrepresented as South African but actually from a 2020 memorial site in South Africa and featured Julius Malema, a radical opposition leader not part of the government, to reinforce his narrative. South African officials and fact-checkers have dismissed the genocide claims as false, emphasizing that the majority of victims of violent crime in South Africa are black South Africans. The episode drew criticism for perpetuating false narratives about race and crime in South Africa, with the White House declining to comment on the misidentification.