South Africa has had tense relations with the US government since Donald Trump's re-election.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says his party will continue to defend Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) despite tension with the United States (US) government over the policy.
US President Donald Trump has accused South Africa of alienating white South Africans by using race-based laws such as BBBEE.
He told a conference in Miami last week that he will not be attending the G20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg.
“We have a G20 meeting in South Africa. South Africa should not even be in the Gs anymore because what is happening there is bad.
“I am not going there anymore, I am not going, I am not going to represent our country there,” he said.
He also alluded to South Africa being a communist country.
“For generations, Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa. If you take a look at what is happening in parts of South Africa, look at South Africa, what is going on, look at South America, what is going on,” he said.
Mbalula: we won’t give in
Mbalula told the media on Tuesday that South Africa has been at pains trying to convince Trump that there are no terrible things happening in the country.
“We have explained to them that the issue of BBBEE and all of that are matters of redress in our country; they cannot go around it.
“They should know that there was apartheid in this country as much as America, half of the time supported the regime in our country, for many years, Americans in America were with us in the anti-apartheid movement.
“Now that we have defeated apartheid, and we are on a path of redress, they are now asking us that we must ignore that is not only incorrect, that is lazy thinking and scapegoatism,” he said.
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Is SA being punished?
Mbalula described Washington’s posture towards South Africa as a form of punishment.
“The American administration of Donald Trump not taking part in the G20 is to communicate a message of seeking to punish our country, but unfortunately, the reasons they have chosen to punish us economically are incorrect.
“Donald Trump’s administration is not being straight with us. When President Ramaphosa went there, they raised the issue about the killings on the farms, and then they played a video of Julius Malema; that is where it ended. He never said anything about ICJ (International Court of Justice) about us taking Israel to the international court. He never said he has a problem with our policies when we saw him there,” he said.
Mbalula said the ANC will not change its ideology even in the face of possible sanctions.
“If we are to be punished for redress and fighting for social transformation in our country and advancing for equity in our country… let it be.
“They know we have strong trade relations with South Africa; yes, it will affect our economy if, overnight, the companies that have invested in this country, for the madness that we are being told, were to withdraw from our country, as the ANC, we will not be threatened about sanctions,” he said.
G20 no-shows
Recent reports indicated that the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, will also not attend the G20 leaders’ summit. He is a known ally of Trump.
According to Argentinian media, Milei will instead send two representatives. The reasons for his non-attendance were not yet clear.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told The Citizen that the government will next week update the nation on cancellations and apologies received from international delegates.
So far, no European country has expressed solidarity with Trump’s posture against South Africa.
The G20 comprises of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and United States and two regional bodies, namely the European Union and the African Union.
Is summit still legitimate?
Unisa’s Professor Itumeleng Mothoagae told The Citizen that Trump’s boycotting of the G20 will not affect the legitimacy of the summit.
He said Trump is being disingenuous about the reasons for not attending the summit.
“His not coming has got to do with his demeanour towards South Africa, and that demeanour, in my view, is multi-layered.”
“The first layer is that South Africa went to the ICJ to raise issues about genocide in Gaza, we all know in terms of geopolitics how close the US is to Israel.
“We have also seen the attempts by the members of the Senate trying to place sanctions on some leaders of the ANC.
“The second layer to this has to do with the colonial matrix of power. The other reasons are the misinformation that Trump espouses. He thrives on misinformation, and he is holding on to the idea that there is white genocide in South Africa; this is meant to discredit South Africa with regard to its standing on moral issues concerning Palestine,” he said.
Mothoagae said another reason that Trump is targeting South Africa is because of its alignment with Brics.
“The US has a fundamental problem with the Brics bloc because it sees the Brics bloc as an emerging superpower within the geopolitics of economics,” he said.
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