JOHANNESBURG — Analysts suggest that South Africans have largely responded positively to President Trump’s recent criticisms, made in the Oval Office, regarding the high levels of violence in their country.

During a meeting, President Trump presented South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with video clips and news articles that he claimed depicted murders on farms.

Many observers believe that President Trump’s direct approach toward President Ramaphosa is beneficial for South Africa, as it draws much-needed attention to the country’s high murder rate and perceived shortcomings in President Ramaphosa’s administration’s response.

Official police data indicates that approximately 6,953 individuals across all racial groups were murdered in South Africa in the final quarter of 2024 alone, averaging 76 murders per day.

Furthermore, a low conviction rate exacerbates the problem, with reports indicating that only 12% of murder cases resulted in a conviction between 2019 and 2022.

“President Trump’s focus on violent crime in South Africa is a strong positive to emerge from the Oval Office meeting,” analyst Frans Cronje told Digital.

Cronje, who leads the Washington-based Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, stated that since South Africa transitioned to democracy in 1994, ” has averaged an intentional homicide rate of around 40 homicides per 100 000 residents.”

He added, “the global figure is nearer 4/100 000. More people are murdered in South Africa annually, with its population of just over 60 million, than across the entire Western world, with its population of almost a billion people.”

Domestically, the South African government has faced repeated criticism for its perceived inability to effectively combat violent crime.

Cronje said, “The South African government has failed the people of the country in not taking the blight of criminal violence seriously, and external U.S. pressure to address the violence as a precondition for any major investment treaties is pressure that domestic South African activists may employ to address their government’s neglect.”

Analyst Max Meizlish told Digital, “It’s clear that decades of corruption in South Africa have hollowed out the state’s ability to provide even the most basic services — from reliable water and electricity, to a functioning police force and equal protection under the law.”

Meizlish, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that in the previous year’s election, “the ANC lost its national majority for the first time since the end of apartheid.” The African National Congress (ANC) has been in power since 1994.

“The Ramaphosa government is devoting more time and resources to courting BRICS allies like , than to restoring order at home.

“President Trump is right to demand change from Ramaphosa on everything from land reform and human rights abuses to South Africa’s growing alignment with America’s adversaries,” he stated.

Zingiswa Losi, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, while in the Oval Office last Wednesday, spoke frankly about other serious crimes that go largely unpunished. “There is no doubt about it that we are a violent nation,” she told President Trump and others present. She added, “if you go into the rural areas where (there is a) Black majority, you would see women, elderly, being raped, being killed, being murdered.”

Losi further stated, “And the problem in South Africa, it is not necessarily about race, but it is about crime. And we think that we are here to say, how do we both nations work together to reset, to really talk about investment … to really address the levels of crime that we have in our country. “

Reportedly, after initially denying permission to operate its Starlink satellite communications system in South Africa due to local ownership requirements, President Ramaphosa and his advisors now recognize that Starlink’s data services could enhance security, particularly in rural areas.

According to crime statistics released on Friday for the first three months of the year, which critics claim lack independent verification, the Police Minister stated that five of the six individuals killed on farms were Black, while one was White.

Amidst limited police protection in both urban and especially rural areas, a Black farmer’s remarks at a White farmer’s funeral encapsulate the widespread concerns among South Africans. He told a representative from the Institute of Race Relations, “Although he’s White, we don’t look at the color. We are doing the same thing. Next time it’s going to be me.”

Digital contacted the South African government for comment, but has received no response.