SA’s former ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, has conceded he failed to sell SA’s foreign policy to the protectionist US administration but remains hopeful relations between the two countries can be reset.
The failure could be attributed in part to the influence of a domestic agenda that was “prioritising white suffering over black needs”, which had found favour with US President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration, Rasool said.
“We have tried to engage, met with executive orders that cut aid, and now sit with millions reinfected with HIV. Dangerous things are happening. It’s why we must mend relations with the US or sit out the next four years,” Rasool said.
Rasool was ambassador to the US between 2010 and 2016, when Barack Obama was president and SA’s relations with the US were relatively stable.
His second term, which lasted only three months before he was declared persona non grata, came as relations between SA and the US deteriorated.
Rasool’s short-lived reappointment as US ambassador coincided with the re-election of Trump, who has pushed for restrictive trade policies and a clampdown on immigration.
Supported by his adviser, Elon Musk, Trump has put SA in the firing line. The recently enacted Expropriation Act and broad-based BEE legislation have been cited by Trump, Musk and influential Republican legislators as reasons behind the cessation of funding to SA.
The US has also offered refugee status to white Afrikaners who Trump claims are facing racial discrimination, which the government has denied.
Addressing supporters outside Cape Town International Airport on his return from the US on Sunday, Rasool said he stood by his remarks during a webinar organised by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, in which he analysed the new Trump administration, ultimately leading him to be expelled by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
“This is not the US of Obama or Clinton and I was explaining that our language towards the US must change,” Rasool said, adding that the language SA uses towards the US should take into account that influential players on Capitol Hill identify with fringe groups in SA.
“We would’ve liked to come back, if we could, to report to you that we have turned away the lies of white genocide in SA but we did not succeed in that.
“We must rebuild our relationship with America because our relationship with America over 50 years has not always been with the White House. It has also been with Congress and the people of the US.”
Rasool said he would have preferred to return in three or four years when he had successfully reinstated the USAID funds, put in place a reciprocal trade and tariffs deal with the US and “successfully persuaded it that its hegemony and security are best guaranteed when we live in a world where mutual security is guaranteed, even for the Palestinians”.
“We must continue to pursue the African Growth & Opportunity Act because it is important for our workers. We must continue to pursue a mutually beneficial relationship with the US while standing firm on the principle that SA’s hard-won constitution provides that our country’s domestic and foreign policy is ours to decide,” Rasool said.
The process of replacing Rasool has begun. Deputy justice minister Andries Nel and former partner at Goldman Sachs and senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute, Colin Coleman, are among the names touted as possible contenders. The department of international relations & co-operation manages the process of appointing ambassadors and makes recommendations to the president.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.