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Possible sanctions have been debated for some time.
Ramaphosa and Trump met at the White House in Washington on Wednesday morning. Picture: Screengrab.
Questions around possible sanctions against South Africa have been thrown back into the spotlight.
While neither US President Donald Trump nor his Secretary of State Marco Rubio have officially and publicly spoken about possible sanctions in the aftermath of a dramatic White House meeting with SA President Cyril Ramaphosa, a social media commentary account using Rubio’s name has broached the subject.
“Do you support President Trump putting sanctions on South Africa until they stop the White Genocide? Yes or No,” the account asked its X followers on Wednesday. A large number of its followers said they would back action against the country.
According to the account’s profile, it provides “daily news unfiltered, State Department news and updates”.
The account is not affiliated with Rubio, and the post was not reposted or shared by the politician.
Sanctions
Possible sanctions have been debated for some time.
In April, US Congressman and Republican Ronny Jackson introduced the US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act, providing tools to impose sanctions on “corrupt South African government officials” who support America’s adversaries like China, Russia and Iran, among others.
The bill came at a time when relations between the US and South Africa were at an all-time low after Trump cut financial aid to South Africa, alleging “white genocide” against South African farmers.
Such claims have been denied by the SA government and are not backed by official statistics.
ALSO READ: Piers Morgan slams Ramaphosa for defending ‘Kill the Boer’ chant [VIDEO]
South African bill
Jackson introduced the U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act of 2025, which would mandate a full review of the bilateral relationship between the United States and South Africa.
This is a follow-up of legislation that passed the House of Representatives in the last Congress but was not taken up by the Democratic-led Senate. Republicans now control both Houses.
Ramaphosa-Trump meeting
Amid simmering tensions between the two countries, President Cyril Ramaphosa travelled to Washington last week to meet with Trump to “reset” relations between South Africa and the US.
However, Trump ambushed Ramaphosa with graphic footage falsely claiming “white genocide” against South African farmers.
During the bilateral talks, which played out before the media, the US president showed videos of EFF leader Julius Malema chanting “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” to support his false belief in genocide against whites in the country, asking why the red berets leader has not been arrested.
‘White genocide’
Trump also brandished a stack of printed articles, which he handed to Ramaphosa, claiming they documented a genocide against white people in South Africa. But some of the images were actually from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Footage shown during the meeting was also falsely portrayed as depicting “burial sites”.
However, Ramaphosa said the visit was a major success.
“We were able to have a robust engagement with Trump, and it was also good to have a number of members of the delegation to field either a number of questions or make comments. So, that in my view, it was really good”.
‘Kill the Boer ‘
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa said “Kill The Boer” is a “liberation chant” and should not be taken literally.
Ramaphosa was slammed by controversial UK talk show host Piers Morgan for his comments.
“Oh, come off it, Mr President. It’s literally a threat, and incitement to kill,” Morgan said in a post on X.
Ramaphosa said South Africa is a country where “freedom of expression is the bedrock of our constitution”.
ALSO READ: Ramaphosa says Trump meeting a success despite ambush [VIDEO]
Trump transactional
Earlier this month, The Citizen reported how Trump is a transactional president and may have wanted some concessions from Ramaphosa when they met.
“President Trump approaches diplomacy and engages in a very transactional manner, with economics as the foundation and driving force behind international affairs,” retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the president’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, explained at an event in Washington this past week.
Leverage
On Tuesday, former SA ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool said South Africa should know its leverage with the US, act on it, and avoid unnecessary discussions.
“We should take the Chinese approach and know our leverage. In this case, the president was very aware that critical minerals would be our leverage, the thriving 600 US companies in South Africa are our leverage, and the 20 South African companies that employ US citizens in the United States can be our leverage.
“China has taught us to know your leverage, act on the leverage and then absorb the punishment and stay out of unnecessary discussions with the United States,” Rasool said.
Rasool returned to South Africa in March after Rubio expelled him and stripped him of his diplomatic privileges.
ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘Dim the lights’ — Ramaphosa pokes fun at Trump meeting
Trump to attend G20
Last week, Rubio said Trump would not join a meeting of G20 leaders in South Africa in November, stressing that Pretoria has been “consistently unaligned” with US policy.
In his weekly newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa said one key outcome of the “substantive discussions” he and his delegation had with Trump was agreeing on an “economic cooperation channel between the US administration and South Africa to engage further on tariffs and a broad range of trade matters.”
“President Trump agreed that the US should continue playing a key role in the G20, including attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg later this year, where South Africa will hand over the Presidency of the G20 to the US.”
Ramaphosa said they also discussed exploring new opportunities for companies from South Africa and the US in each other’s markets.
ALSO READ: ‘There is doubt in Trump’s head about genocide in SA,’ Ramaphosa says [VIDEO]
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