Rasool has been tapped by President Cyril Ramaphosa as South Africa’s ambassador to the US, a role he held from 2010 to 2015. At 62, isn’t this a great gig? Instead of him retiring, Ramaphosa allows him to travel the world at our expense.
It is not clear what the short-term plan is with this choice, let alone a long-term vision. Yet I am about to say something dull, so feel free to lynch me. Rasool’s appointment is not the worst under the circumstances for a disinterested Ramaphosa.
He could have chosen someone like Ebrahim Patel, our former trade policy kingpin famous for throttling our economy. Choosing Patel would have been disastrous. In an environment with a low bar, the choice of Rasool is inspired. He knows his way around Washington and global politics.
Our relations with the US being at a low ebb, it will be tempting for the Americans to categorise Rasool as simply pro-Palestine or anti-Isreal, considering his history of pro-Muslim campaigns and South Africa’s stance against Israel. He is the perfect candidate to get eyes popping at a time when someone more “neutral” might have been preferable.
Rasool will have to “present credentials” — in the traditional diplomatic process of handing a letter of credence that designates a diplomat as ambassador to another sovereign state — to none other than Donald Trump. He and Trump potentially have a lot to talk about. Trump may be interested in how Rasool coped with the allegation that as former Western Cape premier he paid a political reporter to write favourably about him. Even though it would be undiplomatic of Rasool to turn the tables and ask Trump about his hush money scandal.
It will be interesting to watch what Trump does with the US state department in his second term. The US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, is about to pack his bags as his term has come to an end, opening a slot for Trump to appoint a new representative. Many in South Africa will be happy to see the back of Brigety after the controversial way in which he handled the Lady R saga two years ago.
While Brigety will be remembered for that controversy, many on the diplomatic circuit see his tough moment as just one little chapter in a big book about the dysfunctional nature of SA-US relations. We can expect Trump to rely on the trusted method of choosing “friends” or “donors” to staff US missions across the world.
Rasool’s second term could easily get filled drama as it starts with huge uncertainty about trade relations between Africa and the US. There’s intense anxiety in Africa over whether the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which enables African countries to export thousands of products to the US under favourable terms, will be renewed.
It expires next year. In 2023, Ramaphosa called for the “extension or renewal of Agoa for a sufficiently lengthy period for it to act as an incentive for investors to build new factories on the African continent”.
He said there was potential to enhance Agoa with reforms that would add more products and make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to benefit.
It will not be easy for the US to kill the Agoa programme, introduced by Bill Clinton to boost market access to the US for about 40 African countries. The US needs certain African exports, and it would not make sense to make things difficult for itself. It also does not need to send Africa straight into the hands of China or India, which would be the likely outcome of hostile relations with African states.
However, this is Trump 2.0 we are talking about, and anything is possible.
Rasool will have to get on his bike and work with other African ambassadors to lobby Congress members to ensure the programme is retained. In South Africa, meanwhile, we need to figure out what to do with these prestigious diplomatic postings. They are wasted on over-the-hill politicians. The ANC takes the worst of its leaders and sends them to foreign missions, yet missions are crucial for attracting infrastructure funding, and for marketing and investment.
Failed mayors like Obed Mlaba of Durban, end up in London, and just too many examples fit this pattern. Finding an excellent South African ambassador in major world centres is a mission.
Other countries use career diplomats as ambassadors, but in South Africa the preference is for patronage-dependent failed politicians. Politicising missions weakens the operations and demotivates the career diplomats who have to work in the system. Ultimately, it affects the quality of their work.
Instead of the patronage recruitment system, we could send young and midcareer politicians who would benefit from submerging themselves in the social and economic landscape of a foreign country so they could be of value to South Africa on their return. Some of our ministers could have benefitted from working abroad — or even in the private sector in South Africa — to gain real-life experience that is different from shouting out slogans.
• Mkokeli is the lead partner at public affairs consultancy Mkokeli Advisory.
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