South African golf legends Ernie Els and Retief Goosen joined the country’s president on a White House visit to meet Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Els and Goosen – who between them have won six major championships – were alongside Cyril Ramaphosa for his meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
Ramaphosa came to Washington hoping to improve South Africa’s relationship with the Trump administration. But the meeting grew tense, with the US president playing clips that purported to show evidence of a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa.
Trump had previously canceled aid to the country, expelled the South African ambassador and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners.
But Ramaphosa attempted to ease tensions with Trump, a keen golfer, by bringing a book detailing some of South Africa’s top courses. He also invited along Els and Goosen and also told the US president that he had been working on his golf game.
‘What a group of golfers South Africa has had. There must be something in the water, right?’ Trump said.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa had a tense meeting with Donald Trump
South African golf legends Ernie Els and Retief Goosen joined the country’s president
Els, 55, and Goosen, 56, have won six major championships between them
Elon Musk, who was born in the South African city of Pretoria, was also in the Oval Office
Els, 55, is a former world No 1 who won two US Opens and two Open Championships. Goosen also claimed a couple US Open titles and twice came close to winning the Masters.
Els was invited to speak, with the Johannesburg-born golfer talking up the importance of South Africa’s relationship with the United States.
‘We still want to see our country flourish. We’ve got some great things going on,’ Els said. ‘We need the US to push this thing through… (it’s) very important for us to have your support and get the change we need.’
Later in the meeting, Goosen reportedly detailed his experiences growing up in South Africa.
Trump has claimed – with the support of South African-born Elon Musk – that there’s a race-based ‘genocide’ unfolding in the country.
Musk stood among reporters in the Oval Office as the dramatic showdown unfolded, in scenes reminiscent of what met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky..
Trump humiliated Ramaphosa – asking aides to dim the lights in the Oval Office as he played a supercut of speeches from EFF leader Julius Malema, whose trademark song at rallies is ‘Shoot the Boer, Shoot the farmer.’
Trump then pulled out a pile of news clippings, including a story from the Daily Mail from writer Sue Reid, about why white South Africans are fleeing violence and ‘racist’ laws.
