Donald Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visit to the White House amid ongoing tensions between the two countries. The US President showed a video of white farmers queueing to pay their respects at an allegedly murdered man's grave in the South African nation, surprising Mr Ramaphosa.

The President of South Africa questioned Mr Trump if he knew where the video was from. Mr Ramaphosa said: "I need to check because I don't know which area this is."

Mr Trump has voiced opposition to South Africa's land reform efforts which seek to redress apartheid-era injustices as well as the country's genocide case against Israel.

South Africa has been pursuing allegations of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice. The White House has criticised the case, but Mr Trump didn't address the issue in the Oval Office meeting on Wednesday (May 21).

The US leader previously withdrew aid to South Africa, expelled its ambassador and extended refuge to white minority Afrikaaners, citing claims of racial discrimination - allegations Pretoria dismisses as baseless.

The confrontation between the two leaders came after a reporter asked Mr Trump what it would take to persuade him that there isn't white genocide happening in South Africa. However, the South African president was quick enough to answer that question.

He said: "It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his good friends, like those who are here... It will take President Trump to listen to them. I will not be repeating what I've been saying."

Mr Trump said his administration has thousands of stories "talking about it" and then requested his staff to dim the lights. He then played a video of South African politician Julian Malema chanting “Kill the Boer!”. The US President claimed the video, which runs for some time, shows the burial sites of white farmers.

The accusations by the US President continued as he displayed news articles with photos of white South Africans' faces which Mr Trump claimed had been murdered.

The US President Trump said: "Look at this.. white South African couple say that they were attacked violently". He flipped to another article saying: "Here's burial sites all over the place, these are all white farmers that are being buried."

South Africa insists there is no evidence whites are being targeted. Some white farmers have been killed during violent home invasions, but South Africa’s government maintains the Trump administration doesn’t understand why these crimes happened.

Pretoria says those killings are part of a severe problem with crime and the killing of whites isn’t motivated by race. Black farmers have also been killed, according to the South African government.

South Africa’s agriculture minister, John Steenhuisen, who is white and a member of a different political party than Mr Ramaphosa, said no land is being seized from farmers and the claims of genocide are false.

In a bid to smooth things over with the US leader, Mr Ramaphosa, who is known to be a careful negotiator and remained calm during the onslaught, said he was sorry he didn't have a jet to offer.

Mr Trump has received continued criticism for accepting the gift from Qatar of a new plane. The US President said in response: "If your country was offering the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it."

As the meeting between the two leaders was underway, the White House used an official social media account to amplify the video Mr Trump showed in the Oval Office.

The official White House X account posted an emoji of a siren and the title, “JUST SHOWN IN THE OVAL OFFICE: Proof of Persecution in South Africa” over the video Mr Trump showed during his meeting.

Mr Ramaphosa was in Washington DC hoping to "reset" his country’s fractured relationship with the US. The meeting began with Mr Trump describing Mr Ramaphosa as "a man who is certainly, in some circles, really respected".

He also said he and Mr Ramaphosa would discuss "many things". Mr Trump said: "We want to help."

Mr Ramaphosa, meanwhile, said it was "a real joy" to be at the White House and he wanted to take the opportunity to "recalibrate" ties between the two countries, including more trade with the US.

Before the meeting descended into chaos, he said: "We are essentially here to reset the relationship between the United States and South Africa."