PresidentDonald Trumpambushed South African PresidentCyril Ramaphosa in a May 21 meeting withdebunked claims of a "White genocide"in his country. It was not Trump's first Oval Officeclash with a foreign leaderbefore an international array of reporters. Ramaphosa, an anti-apartheid activist turned business tycoon, kept his cool. In the tense meeting,Trump pressed Ramaphosa over false accusations, at one point asking for the lights to be dimmed and playing videos he purported showed evidence of the killing of White farmers. It did not. Ramaphosa asked where Trump had gotten the video. "This, I've never seen," Ramaphosa said. He asked where the video was filmed. "It's South Africa," Trump responded. He was incorrect – part of the footage was shot by Reuters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the outlet reported. Following news that Trump had accepted thegift of a luxury jetfrom Qatar, Ramaphosa quipped, "Sorry, I don't have a plane to give you." Trump has thrown his weight behind disputed claims that Ramaphosa's government racially targeted White South Africans. The U.S. president issued an orderinviting White Afrikanersto seek asylum as refugees in the United States, during a period when Trump has largely prohibited refugees from around the world from entering under another of his executive orders. Trump's order welcoming Afrikaners also lashed out at Ramaphosa for going before the United Nations' highest court tocharge Israel with genocidein its assault on Gaza. After the Afrikaners arrived at Dulles, Ramaphosa said the refugees who had traveled to the U.S. were "cowards." He also called allegations of racial discrimination faced by Whites a "false narrative." For Ramaphosa, the cool Oval Office performance was in keeping with his reputation as a skilled negotiator who developed the craft when he played a leading role, alongside Nelson Mandela, in negotiations for a new South Africa after the fall of apartheid. On Ramaphosa's path to the presidency, he went from an activist to a wealthy executive overseeing McDonald's franchises. His ascent to corporate boardrooms drew criticism from people who said he had sold out for personal enrichment. Mandela, a world-famous political prisoner who became South Africa's first post-apartheid president in 1994, reportedly saw Ramaphosaas a successor and repeatedly pushed him to take on a leading role in the African National Congress (ANC). It took decades before Ramaphosa's moment would come, when he was elected president in 2017. As a high school and college student in the 1970s, Ramaphosatook an active rolein the anti-apartheid movement. His work in the ANC landed him in jail and solitary confinement multiple times. Between 1982 and 1991, he headed the National Union of Mineworkers, a group central to the fight against apartheid. Heestablished a reputationas a leader and negotiator during the three-week miners' strike of 1987. More:Trump confronts South African leader with false claims of genocide in Oval Office ambush Mandela later tapped him to lead negotiations for the country's new democratic framework in 1991. In the decades that followed, Ramaphosa went from a union leader to a corporate board member implicated in stoking the slaughter of striking workers. His rise in big business had prompted continuing criticisms that he had sold out on the values of the anti-apartheid struggle to enrich himself. He served on the boards of multiple companies andtook overownership all of South Africa's McDonald's locations in 2011. In 2012, 34 striking workers at a South African platinum mine were fatally shot by security forces in a massacre that ignited outrage across the country and invited comparisons to the atrocities of the apartheid era. Critics called out Ramaphosa, who sat on the mine's board, after emails surfaced that he'd sent before the bloodshed callingforharsh action against the strikers. As president, Ramaphosa was also tripped up by a scandal involving the theft of more than $500,000 in cash stuffed into a sofa on his farm, whichled toa corruption probe. Ramaphosa was accused of bribery and other crimes he allegedly committed while trying to cover up the theft. However, Ramaphosawas not chargedafter the investigation and survived reelection to win asecond termlast year. Speaking to reporters after the May 21 meeting with Trump, Ramaphosa would not drop his civility, calling the tousle a "robust engagement." "In the end, we had a really good bilateral, although a number of issues came up," he said. It's unclear when the two leaders might resume their discussions. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Who is Cyril Ramaphosa? Charting his path to power in South Africa
