Donald Trump’s rhetoric and insults — including his reference to Africa’s «shithole» countries — have angered South Africa’s government, but have had little impact on the US relationship with South Africa, writes William Saunderson-Meyer. South Africa is dependent on a strong economic relationship with the US and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government knows that it will have to court whoever wins the White House.
Trump’s outspokenness regularly ruffles feathers. There was anger when he tagged all of Africa, along with Haiti, as «shithole» countries, causing an affronted South African administration to summon the US chargé d’affaires for a dressing down. That it was a mere chargé d’affaires in the hot seat probably added to the slight. Trump took more than two years to replace President Barack Obama’s highly regarded ambassador, and the eventual appointment was of a diplomatic neophyte, a Florida socialite and handbag designer whose apparent qualification for the job was being been born in South Africa. In a similar vein, and somewhat outrageously given that South Africa has its own problems with law enforcement’s use of excessive force, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government seized on the #BlackLivesMatter protests to lament George Floyd’s «regrettable death» and condescendingly observed that the incident «[presented] the USA with an opportunity to address fundamental issues of human rights.» Many of the ANC’s radical positions are rooted in socialist solidarity with the countries that backed it militarily during its revolutionary exile during the apartheid years — the likes of Cuba, China and Russia. The government’s views tend to be at odds with those of President Donald Trump’s administration over Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Iran, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the seemingly intractable issue of Palestinian statehood, of which Ramaphosa’s government is a vocal supporter. Whatever its antipathies, the Ramaphosa government has been scrupulous about not commenting publicly on the US elections.
