South Africa’s Ramaphosa expected to take golf stars to Trump meeting

Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit comes after the US cut aid to South Africa and welcomed a plane-load of white South Africans as refugees. Photograph: Nardus Engelbrecht/AP

The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is expected to take the golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen with him to meet Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, as the government attempts to reset relations with the US amid Trump’s accusations that it is fomenting a white “genocide”.

Ramaphosa’s appeal to Trump’s love of golf, with the potential inclusion of Els and Goosen reported by South African local media, is part of his efforts to avoid a public dressing down of the kind Trump gave to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in February.