In brief
Rob Hoatson explains that the crosses displayed during a tense meeting between Trump and South African President Ramaphosa were a memorial for two individuals murdered on a farm, not a burial site as Trump suggested.
The organizer of a display of white crosses in South Africa, depicted by Donald Trump during a recent meeting, has corrected the president’s account, clarifying that the crosses are not burial sites. Rob Hoatson revealed that he erected the crosses along a roadside in KwaZulu-Natal province to honor Glen and Vida Rafferty, a couple fatally attacked in 2020.During a meeting in the White House, Trump presented a video of the crosses while meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, asserting it illustrated a trend of violence against white farmers. “These are burial sites… over 1,000 of white farmers… those cars aren't driving, they're stopped there to pay respects to their family member who was killed," Trump claimed.Hoatson, a farmer aged 46, expressed no grievance regarding the video's use but pointed out Trump's tendency to amplify facts. “It's not a burial site, but it was a memorial. It was not a permanent memorial that was erected. It was a temporary memorial," he stated.The crosses, numbering over 2,500, formed a memorial for the Raffertys, his neighbors who were tragically murdered on their farm in 2020. Two individuals were subsequently convicted for their crimes in 2022. Hoatson emphasized that the crux of the issue transcends the designation of the crosses, labeling the murders of white farmers as “unacceptable” and “unnecessary.”When asked about Trump’s conduct in the meeting, Hoatson remarked that Trump presented compelling information to Ramaphosa, whose responses he found lacking. "I don’t buy that… It was addressed specifically to him," Hoatson added, emphasizing Ramaphosa's unawareness of the crosses.In the Oval Office, Ramaphosa attributed the issues of violence to broader criminal elements in South Africa, stressing that victims include a diverse demographic. While South Africa does not maintain race-based crime statistics, a recent report indicated that nearly 10,000 murders occurred in the country from October to December 2024, with farm-related incidents accounting for a small proportion.While some Afrikaner activists have praised Trump for highlighting their concerns on an international platform, political analyst Pieter du Toit attributed this to years of exaggerated narratives promoted within right-wing circles in the United States.
