President Cyril Ramaposa’s stand against the lies and tyranny of US President Donald Trump over much of last year was admirable. His somewhat principled stand culminated in SA’s successful hosting of the G20 Summit, the first to be held in Africa, despite its boycott by the US. SA gained a lot of respect worldwide, particularly from the Global South, because of the way Ramaphosa handled Trump’s tantrums.
Ramaphosa’s somewhat principled stand saw even traditional partners of the US warming up to SA while it exposed Trump once more as perhaps the most unhinged of the US presidents so far. It is a pity Ramaphosa cannot get himself to be as principled in his dealings with other unhinged leaders, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin. SA also got very close to Iran last year, a sworn enemy of the US, which is still one of our major trading partners.
To many level-headed South Africans this seemed like an unnecessary provocation towards the US. Remember one of our army generals went on a state visit to Iran. The report indicated that while there, army chief, Gen Rudzani Maphwanya, expressed words of political support for Iran.
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SA’s government, perhaps realising the extent of this unnecessary provocation towards a major trading partner, distanced itself from the words ascribed to Maphwanya. This is why it was rather shocking to see Iran turn up as one of the countries to conduct naval exercises with SA this year. How could SA, which is trying to mend diplomatic relations with the US, do this?
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