President Donald Trump held up a printed screenshot of a Reuters video during a tense meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, claiming it showed the funerals of white farmers in South Africa—when in reality, the footage was filmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“These are all white farmers that are being buried,” Trump declared, referring to the image, which was actually taken from a February 3 Reuters video that captured the aftermath of violence in the Congolese city of Goma. That video, authenticated by Reuters’ fact-checking team, depicted humanitarian workers handling body bags following clashes with M23 rebels backed by Rwanda.
The image Trump referenced was originally published in a blog post by American Thinker, a right-leaning website. The post discussed racial unrest in both South Africa and Congo, but it did not label the image or identify it as being from South Africa. Instead, it was described simply as a “YouTube screen grab,” linking to a YouTube video report about the conflict in Congo, which properly credited Reuters.
The White House offered no comment when asked to clarify the president’s use of the image. However, American Thinker managing editor Andrea Widburg, who authored the article Trump held up, responded to Reuters by acknowledging that Trump had “misidentified the image.”
Despite the mistake, Widburg stood by the article’s content, stating that it aimed to highlight the “increasing pressure placed on white South Africans” and criticizing what she described as Ramaphosa’s “dysfunctional, race-obsessed Marxist government.”
The video from which the still was taken was captured by Reuters journalist Djaffar Al Katanty. It shows mass burials in Goma following an M23 offensive. “That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in … I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film,” Al Katanty explained. “Only Reuters has video.”
Al Katanty said he was stunned to learn that Trump had used his footage out of context. “In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by Black people,” he said.
President Ramaphosa traveled to Washington in an effort to restore relations with the United States following ongoing criticism from Trump regarding South Africa’s land policies, international alignment, and accusations of discrimination against the white population—allegations the South African government strongly denies.
During their meeting, which was being broadcast, Trump paused the conversation to show a video he claimed supported allegations of widespread killings of white farmers in South Africa. This narrative, long promoted in far-right circles, has been repeatedly debunked.
Trump also presented a series of printed articles, flipping through them as he referenced violent incidents. “Death, death, death, horrible death,” he said, emphasizing what he claimed was a pattern of attacks.
{Matzav.com}