Online Reporter
Zimpapers Politics Hub
A much anticipated meeting between United States President Donald Trump and his South African counterpart President Cyril Ramaphosa has been scheduled for next Wednesday to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries.
President Ramaphosa’s office said he will be in the United States from Monday to Thursday of next week, and will meet President Trump on Wednesday at White House.
On Tuesday, President Trump confirmed that he is scheduled to meet President Ramaphosa.
The two leaders are expected to discuss pertinent issues that have strained relations between Washington and Pretoria of late.
President Trump has singled out South Africa over what the US calls racist laws against whites and has accused the government of fuelling violence against white farmers.
The South African government says the relatively small number of killings of white farmers should be condemned but are not racially motivated.
But President Trump has criticised South Africa’s government on multiple fronts and issued an executive order cutting all US funding to the country as punishment for what he said are anti-white and anti-American foreign policies.
On Monday, the US welcomed 59 white South Africans as refugees, the start of what President Trump’s administration said is a larger relocation plan for minority Afrikaner farmers claiming persecution because of their race.
President Ramaphosa said the white Afrikaners did not fit the “bill” for refugees as there is no racial persecution against them.
