Here is the origin of the white cross video Trump used to ambush Ramaphosa

The tone of political rhetoric in South Africa was broadcast from Washington to the international community this week.

United States President Donald Trump gave those gathered in the Oval Office on Wednesday an impromptu highlight reel of EFF leader Julius Malema’s most inflammatory remarks.

Comprising mainly of Malema’s campaign fervour that South Africans now find commonplace, there was also a cameo from former president Jacob Zuma singing about chasing away “boers”.

Row of white crosses not ‘burial sites’

Widely accepted by South Africans and the courts as being remnants of the liberation struggle, the songs and remarks are seen as part of the country’s political lexicon.

However, another piece of footage used by Trump’s team to question the safety of white people in South Africa was that of a long row of white crosses snaking through the countryside.

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President Trump claimed the crosses were “burial sites” of persecuted white South Africans.

“Each one of those white things you see is a cross, there are approximately 1 000 of them. They’re all white farmers and the family of white farmers,” Trump said as the video was concluding.

The caption in the video also claimed each cross represented a murdered farmer and was posted by the X account @realMaalouf, a pro-Judeo-Christian social media commentator.

Origins of the video Trump used

The clip of the white crosses lining a winding road comes from a 2020 protest over the murder of Glen and Vida Rafferty outside their farm in inland KwaZulu-Natal.

The Newcastle Advertiser reported in September 2020 that “hundreds of symbolic wooden crosses had been erected along the route by volunteers”.

The Raffertys were hijacked at the entrance of their farm in August 2020, with both being shot and killed.

“The attackers then fled the scene in the couple’s vehicle. It is believed the Rafferty’s dog was also shot,” reported the Newcastle Advertiser.

The procession of vehicles was part of a MoveOneMillion campaign aimed at raising awareness around farm murders, where attendees paid their respects to the deceased couple.  

75 murders per day

The White House on Wednesday posted a link to the video, as well as 17 other sources used by Trump’s team to demonstrate their stance.

Trump’s other sources — some being the printouts he displayed after the video — detailed the personal motivations of the recently accepted political emigrants as well as flashpoint crimes dating back over a decade.

Both sides of the ‘white genocide’ debate state that the figures tell a disproportionate story.   

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AfriForum previously stated that 364 farm murders had occurred over a six-year period, a rate of just over 10 people per year.

By contrast, 6 953 murder cases were opened by South African police between October and December 2024, a rate of 75 per day.

The EFF dismissed Trump’s montage, but directed their criticism at President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation.

“Ramaphosa denounced a liberation song upheld by South Africa’s highest courts and failed to defend the nation against the false narrative of white genocide,” the EFF stated on Wednesday night.

“Instead of promoting justice, redress and transformation, Ramaphosa’s delegation chose to vilify calls for land reform and economic freedom.”

Land reform has a ‘political slant’

The Freedom Front Plus’ Wynand Boshoff acknowledged that crime — especially murder — was rampant in the country, but stressed it was the targeted brutality of farm murders that caused concern.

Boshoff’s party have been calling for the end of the ‘Kill the Boer’ song, as well as declaring the farm murders a priority crime so that resources could be dedicated to protecting farmers.

The party’s spokesperson on agriculture acknowledged murders were decreasing, but attributed that to investment in security measures and dedicated communication channels between farmers.

Boshoff said the land reform objective could be successfully attained if commercial productivity was guaranteed, but told The Citizen that land reform in South Africa came with too political a slant.

“The government has not accepted that there is a problem. Recognising that there is a problem is the first step to rebuilding trust,” Boshoff concluded.

In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Ramaphosa stated that more needed to be done to protect all South Africans from crime.

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