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A conflict resolution specialist says it may be time for Ramaphosa to take his gloves off when dealing with Trump.
Kenny Kunene. Picture: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo
Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy president Kenny Kunene has responded to Donald Trump’s possible boycott of a G20 meeting in SA, saying the US president will “be fine”.
Trump is expected in the country later this year at the G20 Leaders’ Summit. However, he launched a fresh verbal assault on South Africa over the weekend, claiming again on social media that SA was confiscating land and committing genocide.
“How could we be expected to go to South Africa for the very important G20 meeting when land confiscation and genocide are the primary topics of conversation?
“They are taking the land of white farmers and then killing them and their families. The media refuses to report on this. The US has held back all contributions to South Africa. Is this where we want to be for the G20? I don’t think so.”
His comments sparked debate and strong reaction, with Kunene among those who moved to reassure Trump.
Much of Trump’s false allegations have come in reaction to utterances from EFF leader Julius Malema, who Kunene said was simply “an irritating political mosquito”.
“Mr President Donald Trump, Julius Sello Malema is not the government in South Africa. He is a small boy, a toy soldier and a very very harmless pest. All that talk is him being a loudmouth”
He said Trump should attend the G20 meeting “to come see for yourself”.
“You will be fine,” he added.
While Malema has not responded to the latest jabs by the time of publishing, he has previously waved away Trump’s sanctions against South Africa over its Expropriation Act. The Act allows for the confiscation of land with nil compensation if it is in the public interest.
“There is nothing he [Trump] can do to undermine our [SA] independence,” Malema told journalists in February, after Trump halted billions in aid funding to the country.
“We want to make it categorically clear to the US president that we will expropriate land without compensation and pursue legislative measures to do so, and no threat will stop us.”
Malema claimed SA’s reliance on foreign aid and direct investment surrendered the country to “the will of imperialists who use the money to dictate the economic and policy direction of Africa”.
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SA President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government have previously hit back at Trump’s claims, saying they “lack factual accuracy and fails to recognise South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid”.
However, conflict resolution specialist and author Andre Vlok said it may be time for Ramaphosa to take his gloves off.
“At this stage, this is clearly what the Trump administration wants to believe and needs for their narratives.
“Some of this can be ignored, but there also needs to be an urgent, strong, publicly visible, sustained pushback from President Ramaphosa, and several individuals and agencies that carry these narratives, albeit in reduced form.”
He said there are “several reasons why the story must be corrected”.
“Telling the truth is just one of them.”
Additional reporting by Oratile Mashilo
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