By The President of the United States of America (USA) Donald Trump has proved to be one of the most challenging statesmen to engage with in modern day, his lack of diplomacy and respect for the sovereignty of fellow global countries has made him a global economic risk.
South Africa finally got the audience of Trump at his Oval Office in Washington DC, the President of South Africa; Cyril Ramaphosa led his delegation which included business and labour leaders amongst his political heads.
As expected, South Africa walked into an ambush as Trump, whose body language was that of a charging bull who was not willing to listen. The US President pulled out videos of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema chanting ‘dubul’bunu’ and calling for land expropriation without compensation; he further pulled out articles which he alleged covered the genocide of white farmers in South Africa; it later emerged that one of the articles was actually from Congo, not South Africa.
Trump showed a video of Afrikaners driving alongside crosses which he claimed were graves of massacred white farmers.
South Africa pushed back the misleading narrative that white farmers are being dispossessed of their farms and murdered, instead, they pointed out that the country has a problem of crime which affects all races, that it is not a planned agenda for the country to cleanse itself from the white race.
The delegation managed to calm Trump down and take him behind closed doors and away from the media that seems to make him wild, and push for the real agenda they came for in the first place, which is to strengthen diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries.
According to the Presidency in South Africa, the visit was aimed at resetting and revitalising bilateral relations between South Africa and the United States of America. The visit focused on addressing issues that have been a source of diplomatic tensions over the recent months and reframing bilateral economic and trade relations.
Given his diplomatic acumen, Ramaphosa managed to reach an agreement with his counterpart; strengthening bilateral trade ties, increase investments for mutual benefit and forge collaboration in technological exchanges.
The Presidency says President Ramaphosa welcomed the expected commencement of trade talks between South Africa and the United States through their respective trade negotiations teams. It says Ramaphosa is looking forward to an outcome that will deliver enhanced trade and ensure shared prosperity for both nations.
Depending on the outcome of the trade talks, political parties like the EFF have made it clear that they will reject the Starlink project in South Africa unless it meets the required mandatory 30% local ownership as articulated in the South African Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) laws.
