President John Dramani Mahama has condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of “white genocide” in South Africa, describing them as false, dangerous, and a direct insult to the memory of victims of colonization and apartheid; as well as to all Africans.
In an article published by The Guardian on May 28, 2025, President Mahama criticized Trump’s remarks made during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling them historically inaccurate and dismissive of the real injustices suffered by Black South Africans.
“The US president’s claims of white genocide conflict with the actual racial persecution and massacres that took place during the two centuries of colonisation and nearly 50 years of apartheid in South Africa,” Mahama wrote.
He stressed that language has long been used as a weapon against Indigenous Africans and that silence in the face of such distortions can no longer be an option.
Mahama reflected on the interconnectedness of African nations in the fight for liberation, citing Ghana’s own history and the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s commitment to continental freedom. He also shared personal memories of being moved by the 1976 Soweto uprising, including the image of 12-year-old Hector Pieterson being carried after being shot by apartheid police.
The president pointed out that while apartheid officially ended, deep inequality remains—highlighting that white South Africans, who make up less than 10% of the population, still control over 70% of the country’s wealth.
In addressing Afrikaner communities like Orania and Kleinfontein, where apartheid-era values are preserved, Mahama questioned why those fearing “genocide” have not turned to such enclaves for refuge.
“Had the Black South Africans wanted to exact revenge on Afrikaners, surely, they would have done so decades ago,” he argued, emphasizing that the idea of a coordinated attack on white South Africans is baseless.
Mahama accused Trump of misrepresenting facts, including using misleading images, and refusing to accept Ramaphosa’s clarifications that South Africa holds no policies of racial discrimination.
Quoting figures like Desmond Tutu and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, he warned against the erasure of African history, asserting that memory is essential to identity and survival.
“Our world is in real crisis,” Mahama concluded, calling for global attention to urgent realities such as wars in Sudan, exploitation in Congo, and the treatment of refugees, rather than entertaining harmful, divisive falsehoods.
The article stands as a powerful rebuke of historical revisionism and a renewed call for global justice and solidarity. You can read the full opinion piece on published by The Guardian here.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Risa Wyettey Cofie
