Ramaphosa said he does not regard the group of Afrikaners that left South Africa to be refugees.
Preparations for President Cyril Ramaphosa to travel to the United States (US) on a working visit are at an advanced stage, said Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola.
Lamola briefed the media on Monday about preparations for the G20 summit and other related matters.
Ramaphosa’s meeting with US President Donald Trump will take place amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and South Africa over alleged human rights violations against Afrikaner farmers.
“The presidency will soon announce the dates and the engagement will happen. I can only say that this is at an advanced stage,” he said.
This comes after the US government flew some Afrikaner farmers and their families to Washington on Sunday using a chartered flight.
The group will become refugees in the US and is the first to leave South Africa following Trump’s executive order giving them refugee status.
‘White people not being persecuted in South Africa’
Lamola denied that white Afrikaner farmers were being persecuted.
He said diplomatic engagements with Washington will continue to correct the false narrative that has been created in the US.
“In terms of the international definition, they do not qualify for that status (refugee).
“There is no persecution of white Afrikaner people in South Africa; this has been proven by a wide number of statistics in our country, including police reports.
“We are glad that a number of organisations, even from Afrikaner structures, have denounced this so-called persecution and they have stated that where there are challenges, there are platforms to resolve them within the South African context, which makes this a domestic issue,” he said.
Trump’s attendance at G20 Leaders’ Summit
The tensions between Pretoria and Washington have left uncertainty about the US’s full participation in the G20 summit and its various activities.
Lamola said there has been some participation by the US, but could not confirm if Trump would attend the Leaders’ Summit of the G20.
“The G20 is for all members of the G20 and all the leaders of the G20 are invited to attend. Obviously, the US president as a member state of the G20 will be invited, but it is up to the US whether they attend or not.”
Special envoy to the US
Meanwhile, Lamola said former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas would lay the groundwork for resetting the relationship between the two countries.
Jonas has been appointed as a special envoy to the US.
“The appointment of the special envoy does not negate the need to appoint an ambassador, but we have to do so having assessed the environment with regard to bi-lateral trade relations and trade relations between South Africa and the US.
“The president will appoint an ambassador, but we want the special envoy to first lay the ground to build a terrain that will help us navigate these uncharted waters,” he said.
Meanwhile, a senior official at the Department of Home Affairs told reporters that the 49 white South Africans who have now taken up refugee status in the US would hold a press conference with US officials.
He said they would use this press conference to explain how they are being persecuted in South Africa.
These individuals had declined to give media interviews at the OR Tambo International Airport before their departure.
ALSO READ: Afrikaners who accepted Trump refugee offer ‘know there’s no persecution in SA’
‘We didn’t chase the coloniser’
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa told a panel at the Africa CEO Forum in Ivory Coast that he does not regard the group of Afrikaners who left South Africa to be refugees.
Ramaphosa said he even spoke to Trump on the phone and told him that he is being misled.
“I said ‘president, what you have been told by those people who are opposed to transformation back home in South Africa is not true.
“Iadded 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.
“We are the only country in the continent where the colonisers came to stay and we have never driven them out of the country, so they are staying and they are making great progress,” he said.
More issues behind US tension with SA
Africa affairs analyst Koffi Kouakou told The Citizen that tensions between South Africa and the US were deeper than they appear.
“Trump’s backers and those who are funding him are mainly Israelis and Zionists who are now angry that one country in the whole world, South Africa, that is not that powerful but has used a moral power it has left in international relations to express anger at the genocide that has been taking place in Gaza and then filed a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel.
“They want South Africa punished. There is no other reason people can jump up and down and say anything else, but that is the core of that. They are adding things like the Expropriation Act and white South Africans being killed in droves,” he said.
NOW READ: First SA white Afrikaner refugees set to arrive in US next week
