South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been warned to expect an “ambush” from US President Donald Trump when the two leaders meet in Washington next week.
They are scheduled to discuss restoring diplomatic and trade relations between their countries. Recently, tensions have risen between the US and South Africa, as Trump has accused the South African government of discriminating against minorities, particularly Afrikaners.
Trump might treat Ramaphosa like Zelensky
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, US correspondent Simon Marks suggested that Ramaphosa might face treatment similar to that of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year. During Zelensky’s visit to the Oval Office, he was heavily questioned and called “disrespectful” for “gambling with a world war.”
“I think this is going to be the highest stakes bilateral meeting, quite literally, in US-South African history. There has never been a moment where the relationship has been at such a low point, including during the apartheid era. I think the difficulty with President Ramaphosa is that President Trump has in his mind this fixed position,” Marks said.
Trump and Ramaphosa to go head-to-head
“President Trump has repeatedly suggested that Afrikaners are being expropriated of their land without confiscation under the terms of the Expropriation Act. He’s also advanced in recent days the argument that Afrikaner farmers are the victims of genocide in South Africa and clearly President Ramaphosa wants to push back on that disinformation.”
Marks felt it would be a difficult task for Ramaphosa to convince Trump due to the US leader having a fixed mindset on South African issues.
“The scenes that you spoke about that played out when President Zelensky was barracked at the White House, I think, essentially mugged by Trump and his vice JD Vance. There is every risk of that happening again,” he said.
This week, Ramaphosa said that he and Trump had held a telephonic conversation over the issues affecting the country.
“I said ‘president, what you have been told by those people who are opposed to transformation back home in South Africa is not true.
“I added that we were well taught by Nelson Mandela and other iconic leaders like Oliver Tambo on how to build a united nation out of the diverse groupings that we have in South Africa.”
Marks has warned that Ramaphosa offering a ‘civic class’ about the ANC’s history to Trump might backfire.
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