Vincent Magwenya on White House meeting: 'You could see President Ramaphosa was being provoked'
US President Donald Trump hands papers to President Cyril Ramaphosa during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
Image: AFP
President Cyril Ramaphosa maintained his diplomatic approach and decorum throughout the high stakes meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House, despite a great deal of provocation.
This was the assessment by Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, in an interview with Newzroom Afrika in Washington, after the conclusion of the first phase of the heads of state's meeting, the open session where they also engaged journalists.
IOL reported earlier that Trump reiterated that his nation has been inundated with complaints about the treatment of Afrikaners in South Africa, and he would be seeking answers from Ramaphosa during their meeting.
A large contingent of media was inside the premises, and journalists jostled to have their questions answered by the two presidents, at times assisted by members of their respective delegations.
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With pleasantries out of the way, Trump shot off: "A lot of people are concerned about South Africa and we will see how that turns out.
"We have many people who feel they are being persecuted and they are coming to the United States. We take from many locations and if we feel there is persecution or genocide going on.
"We have had a tremendous number of people, especially since they have seen this, generally they are white farmers and they are fleeing South Africa. It is a very sad thing to see. I hope we can have an explanation of that ... it is a different kind of meeting and we will talk about that," Trump addressed the media sitting next to Ramaphosa, moments after the South African delegation arrived at the White House.
Assessing the presidential meeting with Newzroom Afrika, Magwenya said the first phase of the meeting was characterised by theatricals.
"You could see President Ramaphosa was being provoked. You could see he was having his eye poked and he did not fall for the trap. You could tell there were moments where they wanted to be argumentative, they wanted to constantly contradict what he was saying, and the president did well in stepping back from that confrontational posture that they were trying to set up for him," said Magwenya.
"That is what actually helped in ending off that session as well as it ended."
He said Ramaphosa's restrained posture helped to secure the closed-door session with Trump, which was topped with a working lunch.
"In previous experiences, other presidents left even without lunch," said Magwenya.
In February, an ugly clash blew up in the Oval Office where Trump and Vice President JD Vance shouted at Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL News