The frosty bilateral relations between South Africa (RSA) and the United States of America (USA) seems to be escalating to unacceptable diplomatic levels with no prospects of a solution in sight. This has been the case with the Donald Trump administration since his first presidency in 2018.
It is becoming clear that most of the issues which are raised as the reasons for this hostile relationship are not the basis for the negativity. It has become apparent that no amount of explaining ourselves and the policies they refer to is ever going to achieve any positive results. The issues seem to be going beyond both the domestic and foreign policies pursued by South Africa.
The matter is not so much about the purported land reform, white farmers persecution or murders, as well as the International Court of Justice case about the Gaza genocide. All these matters seem like sending a person on a wild goose chase.
The main gripe of the Trump administration seems to be relating to his political party interests, not even the whole country’s interests. This interest is derived from our past history. South Africa remains a large reservoir of the conservative, right-wing, disgruntled white population which is no longer enjoying what they were promised by the apartheid system in the 70’s and 80’s. They are not used to live like normal human beings who should sweat for whatever they are supposed to earn.
The Trump administration views this prevailing situation in South Africa as a fishpond where fishing skills are not prerequisite. The provocation and irritation from the USA should be understood within this context. The aim of the USA’s ambassador to RSA, Amb L. Brent Bozell IIIrantings are aimed at keeping the narrative alive in order to achieve the stated objective.
It is absolutely not necessary for our leaders and government to continue to respond to these rantings if they understand the reasons for the provocation and irritation.
In diplomacy, it is an established fact that foreign policy is the function of domestic policy. The bulk of what is done and advocated by the foreign policy is aimed at advancing and achieving the domestic policy objectives. The posture of the Trump administration should be understood within this context.
The Republican party is facing massive challenges at the home front. In its calculations, the loss of its electoral support is largely due to the immigrant population in the country. Most of the policies which it has tried to cap the migration into the USA hasn’t worked thus far. The building of the wall, stringent border control measures, as well as the unleashing of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE) didn’t yield the desired results.
The remaining more sophisticated approach is to import the potential like-minded white conservatives from other parts of the world. At the moment there is no Soviet union to import from, unlike the time when the apartheid system was doing it. Except for Argentina, the other country with the necessary numbers ticking all the boxes will be South Africa.
There is evidence based researched information that white South Africans benefited from our political transition better than other ethnic groups because of their relative wealth. They continue to do better for the reason that the playing field was not leveled. The political transition was handled in a responsible manner. Unfortunately, many of our white compatriots didn’t see the need to reciprocate this gesture of goodwill. There is still nostalgia for the apartheid time past.
The raising of the ICJ case, tariffs and other policy matters are just a smokescreen meant to appease other MAGA interests and stakeholders. Those policies are secondary to the primary aim of the attack on South Africa. It is therefore important for the leadership to understand the primary reasons in order to develop the appropriate response. The focus should be directed more on the national priorities. The unity of the nation cannot be over-emphasised. The sooner there is meaningful progress on the national dialogue, the better for the country and the nation.
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Sello Moloto is South Africa’s Ambassador to Switzerland. He writes this in his personal capacity.