President Cyril Ramaphosa’s working visit to the White House is by far the most important step in fixing toxic diplomatic relations between SA and the US. It should not be squandered.
A week ago, Donald Trump, the US president, invited Ramaphosa for talks in Washington. Sensing how significant this opportunity is, Ramaphosa has decided to miss the tabling of the budget so that he can attend the meeting on Wednesday.
Relations between the two countries have hit a low since Trump returned to the White House as the 47th US president.
Alongside most of the US trading partners, SA has been hit with punitive tariffs, and its participation in the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa) is now presumed to have ended.
As part of his Make America Great Again policy, Trump has also cut crucial aid to the developing world. In the process, he has shrunk US soft power. SA, which has one of the world’s largest HIV-positive populations, has been a victim of these cuts.
Two months ago, Trump expelled Ebrahim Rasool as Pretoria’s ambassador to the US after undiplomatic remarks he made about Trump in a webinar.
Relying on false information about a nonexistent genocide of Afrikaners in SA, Trump has offered refugee status to the victims. Forty-nine have accepted the offer.
The composition of Ramaphosa’s delegation — including the ministers of trade, industry & competition; state security; and agriculture; as well as special envoy to the US Mcebisi Jonas — suggests that the trip is more than symbolic. Both parties are keen to get things done in resetting relations.
SA is strategically important to the US. Hundreds of US companies are investing here and are providing jobs to tens of thousands of South Africans. As Africa’s largest economy, SA is a key strategic partner in defence and military co-operation with the US. SA also hosts large deposits of the key minerals required for the transition to clean energy.
SA’s geographic location is important to the sea trade routes that the US requires.
The US is important to SA. As the world’s largest economy, SA can ill afford to ignore the US despite the ideological temptation to do so.
For years, SA has bungled relations with the US. The Rasool debacle was just the most recent in a series of missteps. For almost two years, SA’s ambassador was in SA instead of being in her post.
Trump’s victory jolted Pretoria into action.
In the past few months, there has been a lot of fuss in the relations.
Ramaphosa has been surprisingly sensible, cordial and level-headed in response to Trump’s bellicose rhetoric. He hasn’t rushed to replace Rasool. Instead, he has named Jonas, MTN chair, as his special envoy.
Tomorrow, he has an opportunity to apologise for Rasool’s amateurish blunder. He should do this both in public and in private.
He should also express SA’s gratitude to the American people for the role they played in ending apartheid through the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act — the sanctions law that forced the apartheid government to negotiations.
It would be naive to expect a deal, Trump’s preferred word for his brand of transactional diplomacy, to be struck this week. Still, much can be achieved to provide a framework for a post-Agoa trade, defence and security co-operation and humanitarian support arrangements.
After being scolded privately and in public, Ramaphosa must use the meeting to explain why SA still needs BEE after 30 years of all-race democracy; why there is nothing unusual in the Expropriation Act; why whites, like all South Africans, live in fear of their lives at the hands of criminals; and why the aid cuts should be reconsidered.
Gently and slowly, Ramaphosa must explain that he, like Trump, is an apparatchik of his party. Their parties and governments must, however, not use electoral mandates to divide their people.
Importantly, both leaders must commit to a successful G20 and to continue to work on the areas in which they disagree.
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