For all the misgivings of the ANC towards that bruised but great nation, the US embodies the core beliefs of the Freedom Charter: “Every man and woman shall have the right to vote, and to stand for office”.
There are two other nuclear giants in the world, apart from America. One complies with only the first part of the above quoted Freedom Charter injunction; the other with neither. It is surely likely that one of these giants, to project and protect their spheres of influence, will come to occupy the Simon’s Town naval base.
By its own admission, our navy is a mere shadow of what a powerful modern naval force should be. Any great power installed in the Cape would also serve as our protector. So, which suitor should it be?
There is only one clear answer: safeguard us from the tariffs and other threats emanating from the enormously powerful — but deal-making — US president; invite a nation not permanently defined by its sitting president, and which shares our democratic values so dearly bought in 1994.
Please, President Cyril Ramaphosa, make a bold decision. The nation will applaud. All will richly gain.
Willem Cronje
Cape Town
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