The presidency can’t be serious.
The rumours have been swirling for a while, thanks to the DA. Apparently, our special envoy to the US, Mcebisi Jonas, never even made it out of the starting blocks.
The party claims the US government says it refused to engage with Mcebisi Jonas, South Africa’s special envoy to the US, as early as May this year and repeatedly requested another envoy for negotiations.
As proof, Emma Powell, the DA’s spokesperson for international relations, showed journalists messages sent to her by an advisor to US President Donald Trump.
The presidency has labelled the DA’s claims misinformation.
SA-US relations: Already on thin ice
You probably remember some of the history. The US under Trump has been in a war of words with SA since Trump began his second term back in January. His former bestie, Elon Musk, played a role too, stoking misinformation about a “white genocide”. Relations between our countries have been at an all-time low with consequences to trade relations and aid, which has been cut.
By March, our ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, was kicked out of that country in March, after calling out Trump on his dodgy politics in a webinar.
The presidency then made a big splash about Mcebisi’s appointment back in April. It was a stopgap measure, it seemed; not quite a full ambassador, but someone to help fix things. Even then, it seemed too little, too late, given the perilous state of our relationship with the use under the volatile Trump.
But then, Jonas, SA’s respected former deputy finance minister, wasn’t at the explosive meeting between SA president Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump at the White House about a month later.
And now everyone is asking… where is Jonas?
Delay tactics aren’t diplomacy
If he was really rejected by the US with requests for other names, has the presidency been sitting on this the entire time?? It’s been two months, if the DA is to be believed.
And this sums up the problem with Ramaphosa’s approach to how Trump has smashed up the normal rules of diplomacy… he takes WAY too long to respond.
We all know our president’s penchant for sitting on his hands. He takes forever to think about things and make a decision, or simply prevaricates while he tries to gather more information and consensus. That approach may have worked during his days as a master negotiator back when he was a union leader or helping negotiate the end of apartheid.
But those countries that are managing to wrangle a decent position for themselves relevant to the US are doing it by moving fast. Look at the UK and its Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He has buttered Trump up in countless ways, including an upcoming rare second visit with King Charles. His country was also only one of two to land a trade deal during the 90-day window to renegotiate tariffs.
Of course, the failure of over a hundred other countries to do so, including South Africa, is because Trump’s trade ideas and demands are, frankly, insane.
The game has changed — has Ramaphosa?
But these are the new rules of the global game we’re in, and to win it we need leaders who are decisive. This is not a quality Ramaphosa has in great supply, unfortunately.
Take the issue around Ebrahim’s replacement. Why are we even talking about Jonas as a special envoy, a positive Ramaphosa created in response to the diplomatic impasse when Ebrahim was ejected?
Why hasn’t he instead done the obvious thing… appointed a replacement, one who could both charm a narcissist like Trump while looking out for SA’s interests?
As the BBC puts it: “In a politically odd decision, Ramaphosa left the post vacant, despite its significance, suggesting that his government had a dearth of well qualified career diplomats who could rebuild relations with South Africa’s second-biggest trading partner.”
We know we have the talent
Of course, we have many such qualified people. We know how South Africans can punch above our weight, especially on the world stage. We saw glimpses of this at work in Ramaphosa’s meeting with Trump, which helped redeem it in many of the eyes of those watching. He was able to de-escalate the interaction after a planned ambush by Trump and his people.
We need more of this, and most importantly, we need it fast. It’s time to wake up, Mr President.
Verashni is passionate about empowering citizens to hold those in power to account. She was previously editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian and HuffPost South Africa, and won the CNN African Journalism Award, among others.
