On May 9 last year, an American supply vessel, the USS Hershel “Woody” Williams, ran aground leaving Libreville in Gabon. It was a soft grounding. No-one was hurt and the ship came free after about four hours.
Still, some sort of inspection of the hull was necessary and the Americans decided to head for the nearest sophisticated port, Cape Town, so divers could take a look. They believed this would be routine. Like many countries, South Africa signs a status of forces agreement (Sofa) with countries with which it has diplomatic relations. The agreements cover the rights of visiting personnel.
Countries often use this agreement to visit ports or air shows here. For one thing it means flight or ship crew may disembark and behave as normal visitors. It is an expression, if anything, of goodwill.
The Woody Williams applied to enter Cape Town port under the Sofa with the US. After days of silence as the ship headed south, the news arrived that permission had been denied. If she docked at the port she would be boarded and inspected by the South Africans and the crew would not be allowed to disembark.
The Americans were shocked. After all, not long before that a Russian freighter, the Lady R, had not only docked at Simon’s Town naval base but unloaded or uploaded weapons. The Pentagon now was not even asking to enter a military base. Yes, it was a visit at short notice, but the boat could be in trouble and what are friends for then?
Most docking permissions were quickly granted. But the department of defence in Pretoria declined. The Pentagon in turn declined to dock without agreement under the Sofa treaty and ordered the ship to round the Cape and to head for the Seychelles. The trip there took four months.
The incident has become a quiet marker in the deterioration of our relations with the US under President Donald Trump. It lost us friends inside the Pentagon long before Pete Hegseth became defence secretary. The US Air Force didn’t pitch at the big biennial African Aerospace and Defence show in Pretoria last year.
It is our flagship defence exhibition and I understand the defence department said it had applied too late for landing rights under the status of forces agreement. At an earlier show, Thandi Modise, then defence minister, is said to have ordered the dais upon which she was supposed to open the exhibition moved so that she wouldn’t have to speak in front of an American aircraft.
The problem is Donald Trump himself. The trade deals we offer mean nothing to him. He needs more
Fast-forward just a year and not only have these chickens come home to roost but the sky is now black with the wings of more chickens that threaten to crush our country. We befriend enemies of America. We attack Israel, arguably the cause closest to most American hearts. Right or wrong is not the point here, and Trump’s 30% tariffs on our exports to the US may be just the start. Our trade negotiators are playing by the book but the Americans have still not responded. Why not?
The problem is Donald Trump himself. The trade deals we offer mean nothing to him. He needs more. Afrikaner leaders came home from the US recently claiming they had been given a list of four demands Trump wanted before we normalise our ties:
- BEE would not apply to US companies;
- farm attacks should be a priority crime;
- a clear condemnation of chanting "Kill the Boer"; and
- no land expropriation without compensation.
The recent hate-speech ruling against Julius Malema aside, the state is not taking these demands seriously. No doubt the manner of their delivery, via ANC opponents, matters, but I suspect that if we ever get around to appointing an ambassador to Washington, he or she would be told much the same thing.
Trump needs to win something. Surely that’s obvious? A gift won’t crack it but a gesture that he can flaunt as a win for a morning on the news would. I got into trouble the other day for suggesting that reopening our embassy in Tel Aviv might do it, but the fact is that despite Gaza and genocide, we still maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. Reopening our embassy there would give Trump his win and do absolutely no harm to us whatsoever. Three of our founding Brics partners — China, Russia and India — maintain active embassies in Israel.
The current US president is way beyond our normal diplomatic reach. He could effortlessly end our participation in Swift, the mechanism that enables international financial transactions. Already his department of justice is assembling a grand jury to decide whether to charge MTN over its activities in Iran and Afghanistan. This is no mere coincidence, and Trump uses his DoJ as a weapon of retribution. Expect the worst.
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