Ramaphosa says ‘bemused' when Oval Office lights dimmed
President Cyril Ramaphosa says he was bemused when the lights were dimmed during his meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week.
Ramaphosa and his delegation were ambushed by Trump when he played a video falsely claiming a genocide against white South Africans.
During his keynote address at the Infrastructure summit in Cape Town, Ramaphosa jokingly recounted his White House experience with Trump.
"So when I came in (at the conference), I saw the room going a bit dark and for a moment I wondered, what is this? It's happening to me again?
"We were seated very nicely, and I was beginning to get into a groove of interacting with this man (Trump), and I suddenly heard him say, ‘Dim the lights’.
"A number of people have said this was an ambush, and I must say, I was bemused. I said, ‘What's happening?’.”
On Monday, in his weekly letter, Ramaphosa said the visit to the White House was a turning point in diplomatic and trade relations between the two nations.
He described the visit as an opportunity to directly engage US officials, provide context on South Africa’s democratic progress, and discuss the country's real challenges.
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