In a bid to stanch the fallout from the hostility between South Africa and the US, President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mcebisi Jonas as his special envoy to Washington. Jonas is entrusted with the responsibility to advance South Africa’s diplomatic, trade and bilateral priorities.
He will lead negotiations, foster strategic partnerships and engage with government officials and private sector leaders to promote our nation’s interests.
In a South Africa that has a dearth of political heroes, Jonas stands out, helped by his dramatic announcement in 2016 that the Gupta family had offered him the position of minister of finance. He rejected the offer because, in his words, it made “a mockery of our hard-earned democracy, the trust of our people and no-one apart from the president of the republic appoints ministers”.
From the foregoing, one might think Jonas is exactly the kind of person needed to reason with an increasingly whimsical White House. However, the odds are stacked against him, thanks to his own utterances, his business interests, President Donald Trump’s singular dislike of South Africa and the influence of South African-born individuals on him.
Already, the ultra-conservatives in the US have scoffed at Jonas’s appointment. They have dredged up his utterances for the benefit of Trump’s eyes and ears
Jonas is a product of the ANC, and hence a progressive mould of politics. This makes him at odds with what Trump seems to represent. Where Jonas hankers for an inclusive international system, Trump yearns for a world where the US stands apart, bullying everyone else while taking a sledgehammer to global institutions such as the World Health Organisation and disrupting trade through capricious and impulsive actions such as tariffs.
These differences between Jonas and Trump informed the remarks that Jonas made about the US leader at a 2020 conference convened by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation. Jonas described Trump as a racist homophobe and narcissistic right winger.
Already, the ultraconservatives in the US have scoffed at Jonas’s appointment. They have dredged up his utterances for the benefit of Trump’s eyes and ears. On this score, it would seem, Jonas’s appointment is dead on arrival.
If his past utterances are not enough, then maybe Jonas’s corporate interests might do him in. He is independent non-executive chair of the MTN Group, which has interests in Iran.
Based on these two factors alone, the chances of the hapless envoy striking a breakthrough are slim. Additionally, they expose the South African government as either being sloppy in making its choice or just lacking in judgment.
But Jonas’s mission was probably doomed anyway. Trump’s disparaging attitude to Africa and the developing world is well known. In his state of the union address he referred to Lesotho as a country that nobody has ever heard of. Throughout his first presidency, he never set foot on the continent.
South Africa and Africa matter little to Trump, but the US matters a good deal to Africa. The country is one of South Africa’s biggest trading partners, which explains the frantic efforts to secure South Africa’s continued inclusion under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Another factor beyond South Africa’s control are such people as Elon Musk. Relying on a grossly misleading narrative about the Expropriation Act, Trump has been led to believe that white people in South Africa are being dispossessed of their property and that a genocide against them is in the offing.
The use of the word “genocide” is instructive; South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice, citing genocide in Gaza. Trump, as everyone would know, has little patience for the Palestinians of Gaza, whom he intends to scatter far and wide so he can turn the territory into another Riviera.
All this before we even consider the handover of the G20 presidency from South Africa to the US at the end of the year. Trump has made clear he may not attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
It is understandable that South Africa should want to mend fences with the US. However, the choice of Jonas as our envoy, which he accepted with alacrity, is most likely not the best one.
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.