In March it will be a year since South African ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool was expelled from the country. Nine months since that event, there is still no sign that President Cyril Ramaphosa is any closer to appointing Rasool’s successor.
Meanwhile, the past few months have seen a rapid deterioration in relations between the two countries. Since Rasool’s expulsion over his unflattering assessment of American President Donald Trump, Ramaphosa has made several efforts to thaw relations with the world’s largest economy, one of our biggest trading partners.
After Rasool’s ejection, Ramaphosa, accompanied by a high-level business delegation, travelled to the White House in an attempt to contain the damage caused by his ambassador’s lack of diplomacy. After braving humiliation in the Oval Office, he returned home with the promise that Trump would at least attend the Joburg summit of the G20.
Further efforts were made subsequently to correct Trump’s false claims that white Afrikaners are being killed in a government-approved “genocide” in South Africa and that their land is being confiscated. To no avail.
Then in May, Ramaphosa named politician-turned-businessman Mcebisi Jonas as his special envoy to the US. This raised hopes briefly — until Jonas’s past derogatory comments about Trump resurfaced on social media platforms. Now, months after his appointment, there is still no sign that Jonas has even set foot in Washington in pursuit of his mission.
All initiatives by Pretoria to mend relations with Washington have failed. Trump has yet to backpedal on his hostile stance toward South Africa. In fact, he is doubling down, using the same false claims to justify staying away from the G20 summit and even trying to bully South Africa into refraining from issuing the customary declaration at the summit’s conclusion.
Last week Trump took his anti-South Africa posture up another level, excluding the country from critical meetings of the G20 that form part of the handover process. The US is the 2026 G20 summit host, and as this year’s host, South Africa should form part of the troika of planning countries, including the UK, which will host the 2027 summit.
Worse, Trump has stated that South Africa will not be invited to the US for the 2026 summit despite being a member of the G20, implying that its work over the past year will be ignored in the build-up to the Miami meetings. As matters stand, South Africa has no trade agreement with the US, and Trump’s 30% tariffs on South Africa’s exports remain in place, to the detriment of US consumers and South African producers.
On November 30 Ramaphosa gave an impressive exposition of US-South Africa relations as part of his feedback to the nation about the successful G20 summit in Joburg. However, his address gave no indication of when he plans to address the elephant in the room — who will represent him in the US.
Ramaphosa is not the first president to deprioritise relations with the US. His predecessor, Jacob Zuma, spent more time pandering to the Global South bloc, especially Brazil, Russia, India and China.
In his first term as president, Ramaphosa paid little attention to US-South Africa relations. For the most part, South Africa’s ambassador to the US was absent from the post. This meant the country had no leverage to address emerging issues.
For example, a year ago relations between the two countries hit a new low when a US-sanctioned Russian vessel docked in Simon’s Town. The US ambassador to South Africa at the time claimed the ship was picking up weapons for Russia to use in its war against Ukraine.
It is concerning that Ramaphosa’s administration appears to have no plan or name to propose as an ambassador. Relations with the US have in effect been downgraded from strategic to tactical actions, and Pretoria has been successfully baited into reacting to Trump’s insults.
This is a critical period for South Africa’s relations with the US. It is no time to be without an ambassador in Washington, and it is definitely no way to conduct foreign policy.
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.