A South African farmer has dismissed claims by former U.S. President Donald Trump that a striking display of white crosses shown during a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa represented a burial site for slain white farmers.
Rob Hoatson, the man behind the display, clarified that the 2,500 white crosses seen in the viral image were a temporary roadside memorial, not a burial ground, as Trump claimed in a video shown during their Oval Office confrontation.
The crosses were set up in KwaZulu-Natal in memory of Glen and Vida Rafferty, a farming couple murdered on their property in August 2020. Their killers were convicted in 2022.
“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,” said Hoatson, speaking to the BBC.
During the White House exchange, Trump used the footage to bolster his claim that white farmers in South Africa are being systematically targeted—a claim President Ramaphosa firmly rejected, saying the country faces general criminality, not racially targeted violence.
“These are burial sites… over 1,000 of white farmers,” Trump told Ramaphosa, as he paused a video showing the crosses and suggested that mourning vehicles were pulled over in respect. Hoatson, however, dismissed the assertion, adding: “Trump is known to exaggerate.”
South Africa’s official crime statistics do not break down murders by race. But recent data revealed that nearly 10,000 people were murdered between October and December 2024—only 12 in farm-related attacks, with just one being a farmer.
President Ramaphosa responded at the Oval Office, stating:
“People who do get killed through criminal activity are not only white people—the majority of them are black people.”
Some Afrikaner activists welcomed Trump’s remarks, claiming he raised international awareness of what they label a “farm murder crisis.”
However, Pieter du Toit, a respected Afrikaner political columnist, dismissed the moment as the culmination of “months and years of exaggeration, hyperbole, and misinformation” fed into American right-wing circles.
Hoatson, while critical of farm killings, emphasized the importance of facts.
“The big issue here is not really whether it’s a burial site or a memorial… but getting clarity on what’s actually happening. Farm murders are unacceptable—but they should not be used to mislead or divide.”
