Ramaphosa and Trump meeting reveals global scrutiny

Given that the issue of alleged white genocide has polarised our whole nation, it is no surprise reactions to the Donald and Cyril Show at the White House should also be polarised.

Those who support the narrative of whites being persecuted – and most of them are white – believe Ramaphosa was given a thorough dressing down by his US counterpart.

Those who believe the claims are nothing but propaganda stoked by the right-wing saw the meeting as a victory for the South Africans.

The truth lies somewhere in between those extremes. Veteran politician and former ambassador Tony Leon scored it a draw, while Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen reckons it went better than the South African delegation expected.

It was not good to see President Cyril Ramaphosa taken aback by a video of thousands of crosses symbolising victims of farm murders – even though these were not actual grave sites, as claimed by Trump.

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Nor was it a good look for our country to see the EFF’s Julius Malema and Jacob Zuma singing songs which, no matter what argument you advance in this country about their legitimacy, are viewed by the rest of the world as an incitement to murder.

Yet, Trump said publicly that he had not made up his mind on the killings – a far cry from his recent public denunciations.

He also appeared to soften on the hardline refusal to attend the G20 summit in SA later this year.

However, before Ramaphosa and his team can claim victory, they need to know the world is watching them and they are going to have to start acting effectively on rural safety and farm attacks, to say nothing of tackling the crime which affects everyone else.

Donald Trump at least made one thing plain: the world is watching and won’t tolerate your excuses.

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