What’s next for SA-US relations?

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The expulsion of Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool from US over the weekend has left South Africa in shock and wondering how to fix relations with the Trump administration. In a panel discussion hosted by Newsroom Afrika, experts took a gloomy view of the future of SA-US relations.

Ebrahim Rasool to brief Ramaphosa on SA-US relations

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) confirmed on Monday that plans are underway to identify a replacement for Rasool. Rasool is expected back in South Africa by Friday.

He will brief President Ramaphosa and DIRCO Minister Ronald Lamola on the dramatic events of last week. He will also update them on the work he had done to thaw already icy relations with the US, after Trump falsely accused South Africa of discriminating against the Afrikaner group and not supporting American international interests.

Ebrahim Rasool’s replacement must know how to ‘read the room’

On the subject of Rasool’s replacement, South Africans have suggested everyone from former DIRCO Minister Naledi Pandor to Julius Malema. However, responding to these names, international relations expert Thembisa Fakude told Newsroom Afrika, “Recycling old talent won’t work for us”.

Fakude criticised Ebrahim Rasool’s decision to publicly air his views about Trump’s administration. “South Africa needs to learn to read the room”, he said, cautioning that the new ambassador would need to take note of this point.

Political economist Lebohang Pheko described the characteristics Ebrahim Rasool’s replacement will need to succeed in Washington. The new ambassador will need “gravitas and wisdom”. They must also show that they can “be agile in relationships: when to be quite combative and quietly combative”.

Pheko suggested that the new ambassador should share the same “soft-soft” manner that President Ramaphosa has but should also be “firm” in securing South Africa’s international interests.

After Ebrahim Rasool: Not possible to ‘constructively engage the US’

“I don’t think South Africa can constructively engage the US so long as Donald Trump is in the White House,” international relations expert Professor John Stremlau told Newsroom Afrika. He acknowledged the economic ties South Africa has to the US. However, Stremlau advised South Africa to wait out the storm, “get on with it” and pursue partnerships with other countries. The world has “positive feelings towards South Africa”, he added.

Pheko went further, highlighting the potential benefits of relationships with African countries, in particular those in the Southern African Development Community, and with other BRICS countries.

Following the expulsion of Ebrahim Rasool, Pheko urged South Africa to actively pursue its interests in these relationships: “That also needs a much more aggressive and a much greater place-South-Africa-first type of approach.”

“America is important but it doesn’t have to be the beginning and the end of the world”, added Pheko.