South African golfer Retief Goosen joined President Cyril Ramaphosa in his Oval Office meeting with President Trump on Wednesday and ended up lending support to the commander in chief’s concern about white farmers in the nation.
After a back and forth with his South African counterpart, Trump turned to Goosen and fellow golfer Ernie Els for their perspective.
“I know there was a lot of anger through the transition, there was a lot of stuff happening in the apartheid days,” Els said. “We grew in the apartheid era, but I don’t think two wrongs make a right.”
When the president asked Goosen, he acknowledged some “issues” his family has had.
“My dad was a property developer as well as a part-time farmer, and, yeah, some of his buddy farmers got killed,” he told Trump. “The farm is still going. My brothers run it, but it's a constant battle with farms. … They’re trying to burn the farms down, to chase you away. So it is, it is a concern to try make a living as a farmer. … Without our farmers, there’s no food on the plate."
When pressed to explain further, Goosen said his family has installed electric fencing but they live in fear when they have to leave.
“They left behind electric fences, you know, try to be, at night, safe. But it is constant whenever you leave that something could happen. … Both of them have been attacked in their houses. My mom's been attacked in our house when she was 80. So it is difficult. But the guys live a great life despite everything going on."
The South African President brought White golfers with him to try to prove there’s no systemic persecution of Whites in South Africa.
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) May 21, 2025
Golfer Retief Goosen then tells Trump that his dads farmer friends have been killed and farms are constantly being burned.pic.twitter.com/IS8JYBbFVG
The revelation likely didn't go as the South African leader expected bringing along the two longtime acquaintances of Trump, believing that "listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his good friends," would prove the U.S. president wrong.
“If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here,” he said pointing to Goosen, Els, and John Steenhuisen, his agriculture minister. “It will take him, President Trump, listening to their stories, to their perspective.”
Better double check those stories next time.
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