Mcebisi Jonas — the special envoy to the US appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa this week — has his work cut out. Judging by US President Donald Trump’s public statements recently, Jonas may have to fly to the “Land of the Free” armed with a map of Africa.
A couple of weeks ago, Trump told the US Congress he had never heard of Lesotho. This week, he complained about “many, many people” coming from the Congo to the US, before quickly adding: “I don’t know where that is.”
At his first meeting with Trump, Hogarth suspects Jonas should start by pulling out the map and saying: “See, Mr President, there are two Congos. And over there is a river, also called the Congo. And South Africa, well that’s easy — as the name suggests, it is here, in the south of the continent.”
Riches fit for a Prince
Wait, didn’t one of Trump’s big backers, Erik Prince, recently nail down a lucrative deal to secure minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s rich Katanga region? Prince used to run Blackwater — the private military organisation accused of killing civilians in Iraq in 2007. It’s hard to believe Prince didn’t inform his president-friend he had landed such a deal.
Come waltz with Thabisa, Don
News from Down Under reveals some Aussies have started a petition demanding their government ban Trump and his administration from visiting Australia. Hogarth doubts the Australian government will accede to this demand, but thinks it wouldn’t hurt to show the Orange One such news reports. If only to let him know that while others want him banned, we want him to come here during the G20 summit — even if it is just for a round of golf with our Cupcake at the Killarney Country Club.
Green hills of KwaZulu beckon
It must be hard to be a US career diplomat in these days of Trump. To keep busy, you probably have to look for the type of public engagements that offend neither your boss nor your host country. This must explain US embassy chargé d’affaires David Greene’s courtesy visit to the Thabo Mbeki Foundation this week.
If that is not the case — and, indeed, it is part of his duties to visit foundations of former leaders — when should we expect Greene in Nkandla?
Orange juice next time, please
It was wonderful of the US embassy press office to issue a statement praising our police and the Hawks for rescuing a kidnapped US pastor in the Eastern Cape. Hogarth was especially touched by the US mission’s commitment to “continued collaboration with South African counterparts to promote the safety and security” of US citizens. His only wish was that they could have ended the statement with the line: “Some very good things are happening in South Africa.” But one can’t get it all.
Getting tips or instructions
While everyone was watching the South Africa vs US saga, international relations minister Ronald Lamola was meeting with some of President Vladimir Putin’s top officials. It seemed odd the minister would choose such a time to meet the Russians, when the priority should be to win back Uncle Sam. Then again, Russia’s great enemy — Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky — is due to arrive in Pretoria in a matter of days.
“A friend’s enemy is still a friend,” should be our country’s foreign affairs policy motto.
Doctor, put the lie in the coconut
The long-dragging asbestos tender corruption case in the Free State continues to produce gems. Hogarth nearly fell off his chair when he heard that one of the accused, Michelle Mpambani, had submitted a sick note from a clinic specialising in energy boosters and weight-loss as evidence she was too ill to come to court.
What’s next, a sick note from Doctor Khumalo, the former soccer star?
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