The brambles of fact-checking, the recriminations from the commentariat, the revealed misconceptions in Washington and the need for a reset of relations between South Africa and the US all suggest that constructive communication is now vital.
What if Donald Trump wrote to Cyril Ramaphosa along the following lines:
“Thank you for the wonderful South African Golf courses book you gave me when you visited the White House and also for bringing along some good golfers I admire in your delegation. The opportunity for a reset of the relations between our two great countries is not to be missed. After our first meeting it is apparent to me that we may have been talking past each other on a number of the topics that were raised during our engagement on 21 May 2025 in the Oval Office due to misconceptions about each other’s positions. Let me do what I can to achieve clarity.
Genocide
“I accept that the roadside crosses in the video aired during the Oval Office engagement were not graves properly so called but instead a memorial erected in 2020, following the murder in their home on a farm of Mr and Mrs G Rafferty. The memorial crosses were to those commemorating all races killed in farm attacks in South Africa. It is however true that the rate at which white farmers are murdered exceeds the national average and is a cause for concern. I have noted that your minister of police has announced that in the last quarter there have been five killings during farm attacks and that one of the victims was white. Five is still five too many, but it is not evidence of genocide on any of the various definitions of the term whether that of the United Nations, the Statute of Rome, or Genocide Watch which has helpfully identified what it calls the ten stages of genocide.
“It is however worth noting that between 7 October 2023 and 21 May 2025, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, as stated by OCHA, at least 53,655 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza. This total amounts to roughly 90 deaths per day on average, which is not dissimilar to the average of 62 murders per day in South Africa in the period January to March 2025. In recent years the murder rate in South Africa has been higher than 62 per day after it peaked at 74 per day in 1994. I accept that the population of Gaza is smaller than that of SA, but the loss of any human life is still a loss of devastating kind.
“The United States is prepared to assist South Africa address its high crime rate in the interests of fostering good relations. How can we help you? I understand the FBI helped train the Scorpions, a highly effective anti-corruption unit, back in 2000.
“Violent crime of all kinds and corruption manifestly discourage new investment. Violence hampers tourism and prejudices the constitutionally protected psychological integrity all good people of your great nation. Without new investments much needed jobs for South Africans will not easily materialise. Criminality of all kinds must be addressed urgently. State capture allegations must be ventilated in court following independent investigation by an agency outside executive control of the kind required by your highest court.
Expropriation without Compensation
“I understand from media reports that the constitutionality of the new legislation which allows for expropriation without compensation, a form of confiscation in my book, is under attack in litigation currently pending in the South African courts. This litigation ought to be given an expedited hearing in the interests of fostering the rightful place of South Africa in the family of nations by achieving clarity from the courts.
“I am advised that respect for property rights is internationally regarded as a cornerstone of the rule of law and as an important element in encouraging foreign direct investment in countries throughout the world. It is understandable that foreign direct investment is discouraged when investors may reasonably fear that their investments may be expropriated or confiscated once made in a country that countenances the type of law currently being challenged in your courts, for good reason in my view. The outcome of that litigation could be critical to the development of SA’s economy and its recovery from the doldrums of what you call ’the wasted Zuma years.’
Black economic empowerment
“Whilst it is so that section 9 of South Africa’s Bill of Rights contemplates legislative and other measures ’designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination’ in the interests of promoting the achievement of equality, it is also clear that such measures as have been taken to date have not worked. BEE has had to effect of enriching a small number of the politically well-connected while leaving the truly disadvantaged worse off than ever. This sad fact is illustrated by the Gini Index of South Africa which is the highest in the 130 nations around the world that publish this measure of economic inequality. At 0,64 it is the highest recorded in the world. You are not ‘promoting the achievement of equality’ with BEE measures of the kind tried in the last thirty years.
“The IRR has made sensible suggestions to replace the BEE system with what it calls EED – Economic Empowerment for the Disadvantaged. The BEE system is getting in the way of introducing Starlink in South Africa. The possibility of a work around solution will attract opprobrium from the politicians now in opposition who starred in the video I played in the Oval Office. Surely it is time to take the suggestions of the IRR seriously and adapt the policy positions of the SA government accordingly?
Geo-political differences
“The US has noted that more often than not South Africa takes up a position in UN votes on all manner of topics that is contrary to that of the US. The sovereignty of South Africa allows your cabinet to devise the foreign policy of its choice; however, the choices made are not without consequences. The USA is the second biggest trading partner of South Africa after China which mainly exports to SA and does not have the depth of business and cultural connectivity that the US has with SA. As COSATU’s president pointed out to us all in the Oval Office, the US has about 600 firms invested in South Africa which employ around 500,000 workers, all of whom would lose their jobs were the US to disinvest from your country. The US cannot reasonably be expected to trade with South Africa while it is virulently antagonist to the positions it takes in world affairs. This proposition manifestly applies with equal force to the benefits of AGOA and PEPFAR which have historically been enjoyed by South Africa.
“There is no doubt that South Africa is geographically situated in a part of the world which is of strategic significance to the US, especially while the situation in the Middle East is so volatile. There is also scope for co-operation on the Ukraine conflict and in the field of the exploitation of the mineral wealth of South Africa in collaboration with the US. The genuine genocide in Sudan is also a matter on which we could collaborate.
Renegotiation of trade relations between SA and the US.
“The US respects the value of good trade relations with friendly nations around the world. I am often rightly accused of being a ‘transactional’ president of the US. My main pre-occupation is to make America great again. If you have trade ideas or suggestions that may serve my agenda, let’s talk.”
How would Ramaphosa respond to the points raised in a letter along these lines?
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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