Bar minerals minister Gwede Mantashe, our government has reacted with a measured and mature tone to threats by Donald Trump, America’s president, that he will be cutting off all future funding to SA. For this, President Cyril Ramaphosa has to be commended and the country needs to rally behind him.
At the weekend, Trump claimed, falsely, that the SA government was confiscating private property and treating certain classes terribly.
In its response, Pretoria has offered to engage the Trump administration. This is welcome. What is risky is Mantashe’s confrontational approach, saying SA should retaliate by withholding minerals sales to the US. It’s a high-stakes gamble that can come at a high economic cost for SA exporters.
It’s tempting to say Mantashe’s defiance against Trump’s threats — by wading into our domestic politics — and insistence that we stand our ground, is a refreshing change. But let’s face it: it’s a strategy that could sink the economy and lead to suffering for businesses that heavily rely on exports. Industries and jobs would suffer and finding alternative markets wouldn’t be as easy as Mantashe seems to think.
The US is a major trading partner and source of job-creation and direct investments in this country. A total 200 US companies, employing thousands of South Africans, are invested in SA, and billions worth of our exports annually end up in the US market. A small but important percentage of these exports enter the US duty-free thanks to SA’s participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
SA’s extensive HIV/Aids treatment programme also receives support from US taxpayers. This is now under threat.
Without the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, a US law that imposed punitive sanctions on the apartheid government, the then SA government would have delayed negotiations that ended apartheid.
This is a critical time for SA-US relations. It’s not the time to play with fire in a dry forest, hoping to assert control and praying the entire forest won’t go up in flames with one wrong move or gust of wind.
A year ago, relations hit the lowest point over SA’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Even though SA offered to mediate the conflict, it has done little to back this offer with concrete actions to date.
Worse, it rattled the US administration, under Joe Biden, when it allowed Lady R, a Russian vessel under Western sanction, to dock and deliver unspecified cargo in Simon’s Town. Washington claimed the ship was loaded with weapons destined for Russia.
Intense diplomacy, including pleas by SA’s private sector, helped defuse tensions between the two countries and save SA’s participation in Agoa.
Since then, SA has prioritised a strong relationship with the US. For a start, Pretoria has appointed Ebrahim Rasool, a respected diplomat, as ambassador to the US. For its part, the US has yet to appoint its ambassador to our country after the resignation of its ambassador in the wake of Trump’s return to the White House.
It is understandable that the US, like all friends of SA, should be worried about our noisy democracy. The skirmishes within the two major parties in the government of national unity over policy positions can easily make some think the GNU’s wheels are about to come off. They aren’t.
Our democracy is vibrant and strong. Thankfully, we are also blessed with strong, independent and credible institutions such as the media, civil society and the judiciary.
After the bluster and fearmongering, Ramaphosa needs to urgently schedule a call with Trump over the issue of land expropriation to take emotion out of the discourse. His measured approach as outlined in his statement, alongside comments from international affairs & co-operation minister Ronald Lamola, is a masterclass in diplomacy, playing up dialogue and engagement instead of resorting to retaliatory measures.
A few important issues will be worth pointing out in these interactions. First, expropriation should not be confused with land reform as happened disastrously in neighbouring Zimbabwe. Second, expropriation is not unique to SA; Western democracies have such instruments too. And third, SA’s organs of state including its state-owned enterprises often expropriate land in the public interest out of the glare of media headlines.
As South Africans, we need to unite behind our democracy and its values. We should tone down the rhetoric and directly address issues with the US administration, not through social media.
SA must steer through these tumultuous waters with caution and foresight, maintaining our diplomatic relations and protecting our economic interests, not play a game of Jenga with them and hope the tower doesn’t collapse.
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