Malema claims Ramaphosa-Trump meeting was about him

US President Donald Trump hands papers to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025. [AFP]

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema now claims that Wednesday’s high-level meeting between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump ‘focused on him.’ 

“A group of older men meet in Washington to gossip about me,” Malema posted on X.

His remarks follow Ramaphosa’s visit to the Oval Office yesterday, where he  met with Trump to discuss Washington's unfounded claims of "genocide" against white Afrikaners, among other topics. 

But, Malema claimed the agenda shifted when Trump brought up past EFF rallies.

“That man is going all over South Africa…and that's not a small party, that was a stadium that holds 100,000 people, and I hardly saw them deceived,” said Trump. 

"People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they're being killed.” 

The Trump administration has been critical of South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, where it has accused the Israeli government of committing genocide in Gaza.

But what appears to concern Trump most is South Africa’s land expropriation law, signed in January, which seeks to address the legacy of white minority rule by redistributing land without compensation.

Malema responded, arguing there is no credible evidence to support claims of violence targeting white South Africans.

“No significant amount of intelligence evidence has been produced about white genocide. We will not agree to compromise our political principles on land expropriation without compensation for political expediency.”

The EFF also defended its Party leader, in a statement on X. 

“While the West and its stooges convene against the EFF and its leader, the masses must rally in unison to protect Malema. He is not just a leader of the EFF, he is the awakening of a nation. No amount of international interference will derail the struggle for black liberation,” it said.