SA must growl back at global bullies like Trump

Despite being one of Africa’s leading economies, South Africa has yet to leverage its economic power to confront geopolitical challenges that threaten its sovereignty.

Perhaps Pretoria should have consulted China on how it earned US President Donald Trump’s respect at the negotiating tables in Geneva. First, Beijing refused to be dragged to the White House.

The talks happened in Geneva, Switzerland, a neutral venue.

The Sino-US talks were not straightforward, they were fraught with tension, and for much of the time, the negotiators from both sides were not smiling. But China leveraged its indomitable economic muscle.

China, which threatens to overtake the US to become the world’s Number One economy, decided to fight back against Trump’s inflated tariffs, going toe-to-toe and waging a tit-for-tat battle.

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This forced the business tycoon to back off and treat China as an equal with whom he must talk, rather than try to overcome.

We know South Africa is not in a position to take on this giant like China did, but like a cat up against a big dog, Pretoria should at least have growled, even though it knows when it comes to a real fight, it would be defeated. We need that kind of leadership and approach when we face a bully like Trump.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is not recognised as a political fighter, but rather as a smiling president. You will rarely see him in an angry mood, even when the situation calls for it.

For instance, when he told Trump to back off and keep his America while he would keep his South Africa, back in 2018, he delivered the message with a big smile, leaving many unsure if he was serious or just joking.

Our weak economic position leaves us vulnerable to Trump’s cunning ways. He aims to extort benefits from our delegates, making them eat from the palm of his hand.

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He is a smart schoolyard bully; he threatens you from a distance and, if you are a coward, you will buckle under the pressure and hurry to the White House on your knees – just what happened to our high-powered political delegation.

Trump is trying to access our minerals, trade and loyalty, intending to use these as tools against our allies, particularly China and Russia. He knows the claim of Afrikaners suddenly becoming refugees is false.

These individuals were never persecuted or targeted. Instead, they are a privileged group clinging to nostalgia for apartheid and resisting change.

As political analyst Sandile Swana suggests, the Afrikaner question and the land expropriation that Trump harps on about are “Mickey Mouse issues” and a waste of time, as they lack substance.

Trump’s real concern, he argues, is that South Africa brought Israel before the International Court of Justice and had Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant charged by the International Criminal Court for what our government regards as genocide committed by Israel in Gaza.

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South Africa should focus on understanding how China transformed from a very poor country just a few decades ago into the world’s second-largest economy, with the potential to become the largest.

This is a remarkable achievement. At one time, South Africa shared many of the poverty characteristics that China possessed before its transformation.

Instead of yielding to a leader with a questionable agenda for global dominance, we should learn from China’s success.

The history of China’s development and the figures behind it are in black and white – a resilient relay race from Deng Xiaoping right up to Xi Jinping that has happened in front of our eyes.

We just need to tap into that to be respected on the world stage like China.

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