As world leaders assembled at the UN General Assembly, President Cyril Ramaphosa was given another opportunity to be his true self, doing what he does best: being a mini-Mandela, a moral conscience of the world.
“Geopolitical shocks and unprecedented trade policy volatility are destabilising the global economy and jeopardising a critical source of development finance,” he said. “In fact, trade is now being used as a weapon against a number of countries in the world.”
By geopolitical shocks he means that Americans voted — to our horror and, post the fact, their regret — for Donald Trump. The volatility refers to how Trump’s decisions are about to unleash a jobs bloodbath in our country and elsewhere, stunting development in the Global South and unleashing diplomatic nightmares in the north. He could have been more direct, pointing out that South Africa and others are examples of how trade is weaponised against us.
Trite though it might appear, it is worth stating that trade, indeed, is being used as a weapon to recharge an American economy that is struggling. Remember how Elon Musk responded to the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — calling it a “disgusting abomination” likely to “massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit” and “bankrupt America”, whose debt-to-GDP ratio is around 120%. So, part of the reason trade is being weaponised against us and others is because of looming economic issues in the US.
Ramaphosa’s message at the UN was apt. He did well. No-one expected him not to. He relishes these occasions. Some might argue they are largely why he remains in office. Remember how he told France’s Emmanuel Macron that the hoarding of vaccines by “rich countries” was anathema to human safety.
“We need those who have hoarded the vaccines to release the vaccines so that other countries can have them,” Ramaphosa said. “The rich countries of the world went out and acquired large doses … Some countries even acquired up to four times what their population needs … to the exclusion of other countries.”
This was Ramaphosa at the World Economic Forum, raising a fist for the poor.
In St Petersburg, Russia, in 2023, Ramaphosa said: “We no longer want to export ore, soil, dust and rocks from the minerals of our continent. We want to export finished products that have value. There must be respect also for what we do as countries, and we must stop those countries that count their wealth and their assets in terms of minerals that reside in the African soil like they did in the past when they counted their wealth in the number of slaves that they owned, taken from the African continent.”
The question is: how long will we export dust while ignoring beneficiation?
Ramaphosa has carved out a space on the global stage as a moral beacon, raising among leaders unaccustomed to such effrontery the paucity of morality in how the world conducts trade and multilateral affairs.
While this is important and must be encouraged, what he must also be encouraged to do is to pay attention to why our country remains poor. While we know the colonial and apartheid history that continues to wreak havoc on the lives of many, he must, with the same zeal, apply himself to why we are not making progress in weaning ourselves off deep-set dependencies on rich countries.
It is one thing to scream an intention not to export raw ore, dust and rocks, but quite another to do the hard slog of ensuring that our country implements the beneficiation strategy established to help foster economic growth, industrialisation and job creation.
This is easier said than done. Smelting and refining are energy-intensive. Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa should be tasked with creating a special dispensation for those who want to process minerals.
The constraints on rail infrastructure, too, require Ramaphosa showing the rest of his team how to put shoulder to the wheel. Receiving help from Business for South Africa is a start, but he’s got to apply pressure on all to get the results. Society won’t assess him on the efforts made but on the results. So far, logistics and infrastructure issues are undermining our ability to turbocharge our stagnant economy.
Further, Parks Tau, the minister of trade, industry & competition, must succeed in those negotiations he said he was “cautiously optimistic” about — while Ramaphosa was “very optimistic”.
Truth is, if America, our second biggest trade partner, retains the 30% tariffs — effectively making nonsense of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which expires on Tuesday — we are in real trouble. Looking to China, India and the rest is an empty slogan, because those countries too are trying to find new markets elsewhere after tariffs were also imposed on them.
As South Africa grows increasingly anxious about whether a favourable deal that saves jobs — mainly in the auto and agricultural sectors — will be signed with Washington, a message hitherto ignored becomes clearer. We need to reduce our exposure, our vulnerability. It’s unsustainable sending Tau around the world with a begging bowl. Of course we must trade with the world. But, importantly, we must pay attention to what we sell to the world and how that helps us create jobs locally while diversifying our trade partnerships.
When Trump and others unleash “geopolitical shocks and unprecedented trade policy volatility”, or when leaders of the world look inward, cutting us off, it is insufficient to merely pontificate on the world stage.
The work that will help us mitigate the effects of trade turbulence is turning our promises of not exporting soil and dust into real opportunities through active manufacturing hubs that support beneficiation, among others.
They say talk is cheap. It must be soul-crushing to beg when your options are limited. The question is: how long will we export dust while ignoring beneficiation which could help us get our economy off the ground?
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.