Pity poor Cyril Ramaphosa.
He and his entourage have touched down in the US, where, on Wednesday this week, they are scheduled to enter Washington’s belly of the beast, basically the modern-day equivalent of Mordor: The White House.
Or, as Zapiro recently portrayed it, THE WHITE SUPREMACY HOUSE.
When asked recently about his upcoming trip to Washington, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he’s “not worried” about his meeting with Trump.
If that’s true, I admire your steely nerve, Mr President. But if you’re not remotely worried about that imminent meeting…then you haven’t fully grasped the gravitas of the upcoming occasion.
Because, like Yoda said to Luke, when Skywalker insisted that he wasn’t afraid, “You will be. You…will be.”
Truth is, I wouldn’t want to be in Cyril’s shoes or Bathu sneakers on Wednesday…not for all the boerie in Bloemfontein.
Especially now that another video has just resurfaced of Ramaphosa telling Trump to butt out of SA’s internal affairs, 2 days before he’s due to enter the White House.
TAKE SOME ADVICE FROM A FEW EXPERTS
Picture Squirrel…sitting in the Oval Office press room…squirming in his seat, tea cup and saucer rattling slightly in his trembling hand (if it is tea and not moonshine), trying to explain to Trump that there is NO threat to Afrikaners, and NO terrible things happening in SA.
Meanwhile, back here at home, in the past few weeks alone we’ve had at least one more farm murder, watched the EFF march on and trash the peripherals of Kleinfontein, heard Gwede Mantashe’s calls to descend on Orania, and seen several more reports of children being raped or murdered.
Yeah, good luck trying to bamboozle Trump on all of that, Cyril. Big Don is going to eat your buffalo sandwich lunch for you. Hopefully, for the sake of Ramaphosa and Team SA, the meeting will NOT be televised live (as it was with Zelensky) when it all goes tits up.
For what it’s worth, a few local and international analysts, commentators and other “experts” have weighed in on how Cyril should negotiate that meeting with Trump…and what he should be prepared for.
CYRIL’S ABOUT TO WALK A TREACHEROUS PATH
Political journo and commentator Justice Malala believes Ramaphosa has a huge wall to climb in that meeting with Trump. In a recent article he penned for The Herald, Malala wrote, “President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation to the US must not harbour any illusions about the treacherous path they have to walk and the difficult task they face.
If Ramaphosa and his ministers want to eke out some victories from their meeting with US President Donald Trump, then they need to be very clear-eyed about what the meeting is, who Trump is, what the people around him represent and what the meeting can achieve.”
THIS MEETING COULD MAKE OR BREAK SOUTH AFRICA
Retired American military colonel and intel analyst Chris Wyatt believes this upcoming trip to Washington is probably the single most important meeting in the political life of Cyril Ramaphosa, and the most important consequential meeting between the United States and South Africa since the end of apartheid.
In an interview this week with BizNews journo-presenter Chris Steyn, he said, “I think it’s more significant than his role in Codesa or when he won the party presidency in December 2017. This meeting on Wednesday is for all the marbles. It could make or break South Africa.”
A PERSONAL APPEAL TO PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA
In an earlier video posted on 16 May, Wyatt made a personal appeal to Ramaphosa ahead of his meeting with Trump.
“As an American reaching out to South Africa, I’d like to make the following open appeal to President Ramaphosa. I’m going to request that when you have your meeting with President Donald Trump next week, that it’s honest, forthright and really discusses the issue here in South Africa,” he said.
Wyatt also recommends Ramaphosa not go in there “with the arrogance that many South African politicians display – particularly towards America. And don’t try to lecture President Trump”.
“President Trump is not informed about South Africa by Elon Musk or Twatterbaas or other folks on social media. We have 19 national intelligence agencies that inform the president every day with intelligence briefings, he knows what’s going on here. So, let’s not make any assumptions that Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He does know what he’s talking about,” he added.
RAMAPHOSA MUST REMEMBER WHO HE REALLY REPRESENTS
In another video posted this week, disgruntled ex-DA MP and conservative commentator Renaldo Gouws said: “An important topic will be the land rights issue, EWC [expropriation without compensation]. I would like to hear how Cyril Ramaphosa or John Steenhuisen will try and convince Donald Trump or JD Vance that nil compensation does not mean zero. That will be fascinating to watch on a livestream.”
Then Gouws echoed something Chris Wyatt said: “Do you honestly believe that Donald Trump and the US don’t have all the information? Forget what South African MSM is telling you, do you think the nation with the most comprehensive and advanced info systems and intel agencies doesn’t have access to this information?”
“If Cyril is going to go there and lie, it’s not going to end well. It’s better to just be honest from the start. Even though Ramaphosa represents the ANC, first and foremost, he’s the president of South Africa. I hope he realises that. Because, if he doesn’t, he’s going to have a bad time,” he added.
THIS MEETING WAS PREMATURE
FF Plus leader Dr Corné Mulder believes Ramaphosa’s visit to the White House is premature.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika this week he said, “I’m quite concerned that we run a huge risk at this stage for a diplomatic catastrophe. I think the whole visit is premature.”
He qualified it by saying, “You must understand that relations between SA and the US are severely strained; neither country at the moment has an ambassador. The relationship is very bad, and I think we are running a risk of a diplomatic embarrassment.”
Mulder also said, “I think that the message [from Ramaphosa’s team] is going to be, ‘Mr Trump, relax! Things are all fine and secure at home’, and I don’t think that kind of message is going to be successful.”
THEY ARE GOING TO BE SLAUGHTERED
For some reason, president of the United Independent Movement (UIM) Neil De Beer was a little more grim and scathing in his prediction for the upcoming Trump meeting than the other advisors.
In an interview with BizNews on Sunday, he told Chris Steyn that Ramaphosa, Steenhuisen, and the rest of Team SA are “going to be slaughtered”. He said, “They will deserve what they get in America; ‘n goeie pak slae!”
He added, somewhat bitterly: “Ek hoop dat Donald Trump sal daai twee (Ramaphosa en Steenhuisen) in hulle moer stuur!”
SA IS NOT WITHOUT LEVERAGE
According to freelance journo Sam Mkokeli from Semafor, South Africa is not without leverage.
In a recent article, he wrote, “SA holds the keys to part of the 21st-century global economy: minerals. It controls over 80% of global platinum reserves and ranks among the top producers of vanadium and manganese – all essential to battery technology, defence systems, and the green energy transition.
The US Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act make clear that mineral supply chains are now a matter of national security. And South Africa, quite literally, is sitting on the motherlode.”
KEEP IT HUMBLE, AND LET TRUMP DO THE DRIVING, MR PRESIDENT
Look, I’m no diplomat or politician, but…if Trump really is a racist, white-supremacist bigot? Then I think if Ramaphosa wants to get through this meeting with POTUS unscathed and testes intact… he needs to prepare beforehand – by watching a classic little movie called Driving Miss Daisy.
And Ramaphosa should pay careful attention to the Hoke Colburn character (Morgan Freeman), the chauffeur hired to drive the haughty and difficult Miss Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy). Because in that meeting with Trump on Wednesday, Ramaphosa is Hoke and Big Don is Miss Daisy.
Get it..?
No other way to play it. To treat it as anything else is political suicide.
Only this time, it’s Miss Daisy in the driver’s seat.
WHAT SAY YOU, SA? WILL RAMAPHOSA’S MEETING WITH TRUMP GO WELL, OR TITS UP AND PEAR-SHAPED?
Let us know by leaving a comment below or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1.
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