U.S. President Donald Trump wrongly used a photo taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo to support a false claim about white farmers being killed in South Africa.
During a tense meeting at the White House with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump held up a printed article that included a photo of what he claimed were white South African farmers being buried. He said, “These are all white farmers that are being buried.”
But the photo actually comes from a video shot by Reuters in the Congolese city of Goma. It shows aid workers handling body bags after a deadly attack by M23 rebels, not anything related to South Africa. Reuters released the video on February 3 and later confirmed where and when it was filmed.
The article Trump showed was from American Thinker, a conservative website. The image had no caption and came from a YouTube video about Congo that credited Reuters.
The White House didn’t comment on the mistake. However, Andrea Widburg, the editor of the American Thinker article, admitted that Trump had misidentified the image. She also claimed the article aimed to highlight challenges faced by white South Africans, though it made harsh criticisms of the South African government.
The video was filmed by journalist Djaffar Al Katanty, who had to get special permission from rebels and aid groups to film during a dangerous situation. “Only Reuters has this video,” he said. Seeing Trump use the image in a completely wrong context shocked him.
“In front of the whole world, President Trump used my video from Congo to wrongly claim that Black people in South Africa are killing white people,” said Al Katanty.
Ramaphosa was in the U.S. to improve relations, after Trump repeatedly criticized South Africa over land policies and alleged mistreatment of the white population — claims South Africa strongly denies.
During the meeting, Trump played a video and showed printed articles claiming that white South Africans are being killed in large numbers — a theory widely shared in far-right groups online but proven to be false.
Trump pointed to the papers and said things like “death, death, death, horrible death.”
