“It was a whipping!” says Wannie Scribante, a small-scale white farmer in South Africa’s North West province.
He’s describing Wednesday’s Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa.
This is the second time we visit Wannie’s small farm since March to ask him about the White House.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Like many Afrikaners, Wannie is elated that his leader was grilled on the targeted killings of white South African farmers like himself after years of perceived dismissal.
But even he does not believe Mr Trump’s persistent claims of “a white genocide”.
“I will say immediately we are not in genocide at this stage, but they are laying the table to getting there,” he said.
However, official crime statistics do not reflect mass killings of white farm owners as a basis for fears of a looming genocide.
Why Trump’s evidence about the killing of South African farmers is inaccurate
Donald Trump ambushes South African president at White House meeting by playing video alleging ‘genocide’
Cyril Ramaphosa sworn in as South African president – despite his ANC party losing majority
According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), only one farmer was murdered in the third quarter of 2024.
Read more: Trump evidence of farmers’ killings is inaccurate
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
AfriForum, an Afrikaner minority rights organisation, submitted a list of farm attacks to the Ministry of Police to support their claim that the official crime statistics are underreporting the number of farm murders and farm owners in particular.
In March, SAPS shared that they are verifying cases in the submission and their preliminary results asserted that only one farm owner was murdered.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
“This corresponds with the single farm owner murder reported in the official crime statistics for the third quarter,” it declared in a statement.
“While the verification processes are still ongoing, no additional murders of farm owners have been identified beyond what was originally reported by SAPS.”
AfriForum’s chief executive Kallie Kriel is adamant that farm killings are an issue, though he does not directly repeat the allegations of a white genocide that have been pushed by fringe White South African groups since the end of apartheid.
“Instead of going into a genocide or not genocide fight, just accept that farm murders are a serious issue and there are tangible steps we can take,” says Mr Kriel.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
But the chief economist at South Africa’s Agricultural Business Chamber and adviser to President Ramaphosa, Wandile Sihlobo, argues that the thriving farming sector of predominantly white owners undermines a case of targeted attacks.
“There is no white genocide in South Africa and no [widespread] targeted killings of the farmers – there is crime generally across the country,” he says.
“Between now and 1994, the [agricultural] sector has more than doubled in value and volume terms, exporting half of its produce worth close to $14bn in 2024.”
“There is no country that can do that well in agriculture if the sector was in a situation where there was genocide and people were running away from the country.”
