A meeting between United States President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday night South African time veered sharply off course when Trump abruptly turned the focus to farm attacks in South Africa, relegating trade discussions to the sidelines.
The live-broadcast, held at the White House and attended by members of Ramaphosas delegation, which included South African golf stars Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, as well as businessman Johann Rupert, opened with formalities and expressions of economic intent.
Ramaphosa told Trump he hoped to reset trade relations and promote investments in both countries.
We have about 22 companies from South Africa invested in the United States, thus creating a number of jobs, and you have 600 companies invested in South Africa, some of them for hundreds of years.
But the agenda shifted following a question from a journalist Trump identified as being from NBC, who pressed the president on why Afrikaners were being granted refugee status in the US when others around the world were in more dire need.