The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, addresses the White House on Wednesday with a delicate mission of persuading the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to make agreements with his country instead of scolding him and punishing him as he has done since the beginning of his second mandate.
Attacking the Agrarian Reform Law of South Africa aimed at correcting the injustices of Apartheid and its case of the Court of Genocide against Israel, Trump has canceled the aid to the country, expelled its ambassador and offered refuge to the white minorities Afrikaners based on racial discrimination claims that the Pretoria says.
“We like it or not, we join the hip and we must talk to them,” Ramaphosa said on South African state television before flying to Washington to meet Trump.
The bets are high for South Africa. The United States is its second largest commercial partner after China, and the aid
Ramaphosa will offer Trump a broad trade agreement, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, who refuses to give details.
For his part, Trump is likely to demand that US companies are exempt from “racial requirements,” said a White House official.
South Africa has laws to force companies to hire and promote black South Africans, including a requirement for large companies in some sectors, such as mining and telecommunications, to have a 30% capital participation in the possession of disadvantaged groups.
Policies aim to restore racial justice
It is unlikely that Ramaphosa accepts to weaken such rules, which are fundamental for the aspiration of his government to restore racial justice after centuries of colonialism and apartheid.
“Here are political problems that are in the heart of collapse in the relationship,” said Joshua Melervey, a member of the senior age of the tank of experts conservative of the Hudson Institute, warning that the agreement may not be enough to overcome them.
However, Ramaphosa plans to discuss opportunities for Tesla and Starlink, companies owned by Trump Elon Musk’s ally, who was born and grew in South Africa and has accused Ramaphosa of pursuing anti-white policies, which he rejected.
The discussions could include favorable rates for imports of Tesla in South Africa instead to build electric vehicle load stations and licenses for Starlink, said Ramaphosa spokesman.
Golf connections
The Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, who travels with Ramaphosa, said he would work to ensure free access to the rights of South African farmers to the US market under the law of growth and African opportunities (AUGA) and to expand access.
Auga is at risk of Trump’s tariff regime, which is currently suspended, but would reach South Africa with a 30% duty if promulgated.
“I think that with sufficient impulse and determination we can expand access and improve relationships, and this means greater opportunities for South African farmers and agricultural workers,” Steenhuisen said Reuters By text message from Washington.
Trump accused South Africa of seizing the land of white farmers and feeding disproportionate violence against white landowners with “odious rhetoric and government actions.”
Pretoria says that these statements are inaccurate and “do not recognize the deep and painful history of colonialism and apartheid of South Africa.”
Crime statistics do not show evidence that whites are disproportionately attacked. An Agrarian Reform Law allows judicial challenges to any expropriation orders, which can only be issued in public interest. There has been no expropriation.
Whites, which represent about 7% of the population of South Africa, remain richer than the black majority for all economic measures and still have three quarters of the country’s property cultivation.
Ramaphosa is an experienced negotiator, after having headed the team of the African National Congress during the conversations of the 1990s that led to the Pacific of Apartheid. He also built a successful investment vehicle before becoming president in 2018, and can be helped in his courtship of Trump by rich and powerful allies.
The South African media reported that the tycoon of the multimillionaire luxury articles Johann Rupert, the richest person in South Africa, and the golf Ernie Els have helped achieve the meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa. Both have played golf with Trump.
Rupert, founder of the Richemont Group who has brands such as Cartier and Chloe, was summoned by News24 saying that he was very concerned about the potential loss of exhaust and its impact on work on his homeland.
