AfriForum attacks Mcebisi Jonas over his comments on Trump

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Lobby group AfriForum have criticised the appointment of former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas as South Africa’s Special Envoy to the United States.

AfriForum and Solidarity brought up Jonas’s 2020 remarks in which he referred to Trump as “a racist, homophobic and narcissistic right-winger”.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel asked if Jonas was the right person to represent the country, given the shaky relationship between the US and South Africa.

“Here Mr Mcebisi Jonas, South Africa’s new Special Envoy to the United States of America, insults President @realDonaldTrump. Given these remarks, do you think Jonas will be able to mend the shaky relationship between South Africa and the Trump administration?” he said in a tweet.

Head of public liaison at Solidarity, Jaco Kleynhans implied that Jonas’s appointment was a result of incompetence.

“There can only be one of two reasons why Ramaphosa decided to appoint Mcebisi Jonas as envoy to the US despite these totally disqualifying statements: Either their vetting process is so weak that they missed the video (pathetic), or they (ANC led government) want to show Trump the middle finger. I can’t see how the relationship between our two countries is going to be repaired now,” said Kleynhans.

This week, Jonas explained his comments he made about Trump. saying he was speaking as an activist.

“I guess I must put that in context. At the time, I was outside of government, at the time I was speaking as an activist. I mean, people move on and confront the challenges of the time.”