If Trump wants Cyril to say the Gaza killings are not a genocide, then he must go look for his long-lost golf ball because Palestine is a Mandela stroke.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is caught between a rock and a hard place in his dealings with United States President Donald Trump, who is trying every trick in the book to redirect South Africa’s foreign policy to suit his rightwing thinking.
Ramaphosa would have liked to settle the tariffs issue with the US as early as possible, probably by conceding a lot to the bully in the White House.
He would have liked to concede to avoid South Africa being punished by Trump, who uses a carrot and stick, or soft power if you like, to cut a deal with all those who come and sit in front of him in the Oval Office.
Trump’s limits: China and Russia in the background
At the same time, in the case of South Africa and India, Trump knows he can’t keep up his hardline attitude forever because of the threat of China and Russia to US power.
He wouldn’t like to lose them to China, which has strong economic muscle built over decades on the back of its historic poverty.
China is counted as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, although if you listen to reputable US economists Jeffrey Sachs and Richard Wolff and defence expert Colonel John McGregor, China is already way above the US as an economic giant of the world.
That China also often maintains that it is below the US is based on approaching such matters with sensitivity and avoiding unnecessary conflict in the world.
Besides, some maintain, the organisations that measure the economic strengths of nations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are the creations of the West and wouldn’t like to rock the boat.
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Ramaphosa’s dilemma: Statesman vs party man
Only a fool bites the hand that feeds you. Ramaphosa is a cool guy who smiles even when he is angry, although the ANC might want to see him baring his fangs at Trump.
It is the ANC and his own character that make him a tame man. He has to find balance and act like a statesman.
But there is a side that interferes with his state’s side – his role as the president of the ANC.
At the helm of the party and as the chief at Luthuli House, he must behave like a cadre of the movement and maintain a semblance of a radical posture.
However, the sweet guy posture seems to overwhelm the radical guy posture – some go further and say he is a coward.
As an ANC leader, he has to toe the party line and that is what will stand in the way of the deal he is seeking from Trump.
Calls to resist Trump’s influence
There are those who would like him to stand up to Trump or show him the middle finger, like the late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe used to do towards all Western leaders.
As a man with two faces, he can state on a public platform that “we cannot be bullied” by Trump.
This week he spoke in radical language and indirectly criticised Trump’s “unilateral trade practices” and “economic coercion” that have detrimental impacts on other nations.
You couldn’t miss who he was referring to, although our president is good at the Soweto lingo of speaking about you without naming you.
He also wants to avoid the ban from Washington that happened to Mcebisi Jonas. The fact is Ramaphosa must clinch a deal with Trump, hence he speaks with a forked tongue.
But if Trump wants Ramaphosa to abandon the Palestinians and embrace Benjamin Netanyahu, he must just forget it.
If he wants him to say the Gaza killings are not a genocide, then he must go look for his long lost golf ball because Palestine is a Mandela stroke.
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