A single question posed to US President Donald Trump has placed journalist Heidie Giokos at the centre of a fierce online backlash after she challenged claims of a so-called “white genocide” in South Africa.
Giokos raised the question during an interview with Trump at the recently held World Economic Forum in Davos, asking what it would take for him to accept that there is no genocide against white South Africans.
Trump dismissed the premise, responding that white farmers were being “brutally killed” and insisting the violence amounted to a targeted campaign, despite South African crime statistics showing that violent crime affects all races.
On the narrative of “white genocide” in South Africa, he said: “What’s happening in South Africa is a terrible situation and what they are doing to a certain group of people is unbelievable, you wouldn’t think it could happen…we have seen the numbers and records and it’s taking place.”
The exchange comes amid ongoing debate over the narrative. In May 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the United States to engage with policymakers and address claims of a “white genocide,” emphasising that farm attacks are part of South Africa’s broader violent crime problem rather than a racially motivated campaign.
The Davos interview has since sparked intense online criticism. Social media users have accused Giokos of downplaying the experiences of victims and suppressing evidence of targeted violence. One user, @RiseAgainstEvil, suggested that “some individuals in similar positions downplay or deny claims of targeted, racially motivated attacks against White South Africans, particularly farmers.”
The user added: “When one's own life and loved ones bridge the racial divide, acknowledging systematic anti-White violence might feel like confronting an uncomfortable threat to their mixed household or implying broader societal hatred that includes their partner's community. Personal stakes in interracial harmony can lead to emphasising 'ordinary crime' narratives over patterns of racial targeting, even amid documented farm invasions and murders that disproportionately affect White rural residents.”
@RiseAgainstEvil also directly criticised Giokos’ approach during the Davos interview, saying: “You call yourself a journalist, @HerbGeckos? What a s**ker for punishment you are. Back in Davos, you had the nerve to grill President Trump with that smug question, ‘What will it take for him to believe there is no genocide in South Africa?’ As if the endless farm murders, the brutal attacks on innocent people, and the targeted killings of White farmers are just ‘normal crimes.’”
The user further recalled Giokos’ own traumatic experience during a home invasion, adding, “Yet, you deny the genocide when you’ve lived through the targeted violence that’s tearing into White South Africa? Your own story tells the truth: lawless thugs running rampant, families terrorized, lives destroyed. But no, you’d rather play the denial game for your CNN overlords, ignoring the blood on the ground while virtue-signaling to the world. Hypocrite!”
In closing, the user said, “If that wasn’t genocide knocking on your door, what the hell was it? Report the facts instead of burying them. People like you are complicit in the cover-up. Shame on you!”
While the debate around Giokos’ interview raged, social media users weighed in on both sides.
William Fienies defended the journalist, writing: “I'm sorry @Heidi Giokos for these senseless allegations leveled against you in your personal capacity. We should never allow our personal preferences to overshadow our judgments, and when a report doesn't favour your narrative, try and launch a personal attack on someone merely doing her job, which is simply to report. You are doing good Heidi, and know that you are bigger than this. Keep it up.”
DA leader John Steenhuisen recently accused Trump of having a different agenda that he was pushing despite being told that there was no white genocide in South Africa.
“We have white people murdered, yes, but we also have coloured and black South Africans as well as Indian South Africans and South Asians of Asian descent that are being murdered as well,” he said when he was fielding questions from the Press Gallery Association.
The Star