A VIEW OF THE WEEK: When times are tough, friends are few for Ramaphosa and SA

Seven months ago, a Chinese ship docked at Cape Town Harbour offering free medical assistance.

At hospitals across the country, doctors treat patients as part of an agreement between South Africa and Cuba that costs us tens of millions each year.

These are just two of many lingering influences drizzled across SA that hint at our affections away from the traditional West.

But these allies have seemingly gone to ground in the weeks since the US waged a crusade on the world.

SA, where are Brics and our Eastern friends?

In SA, Trump’s view on our foreign policy has been disguised as disgust for our land policy. This has led to several outbursts against us and the cancellation of more than R8 billion in aid. That decision alone led to hundreds of jobs being lost and an already overburdened healthcare system buckling under even more weight.

And yet, we will all die waiting for our membership in the new world order of Brics and our relationship with the East to fill the gap that has been left.

Closing the aid tap was just the start of several devastating blows to SA that may soon follow, and there doesn’t seem to be a worthwhile alternative or contingency plan in place.

Brics, in name only, has failed to build a strong foundation of collaboration that goes beyond patting each other on the back and making drunken, empty weekend plans.

Trade figures between SA and Brics nations alone show that less than 20% of the products we sent to the world in 2022 went to Brics nations, while well more than a third (almost 40%) of the products we brought in came from the same group.

It is a fragile, one-sided relationship. So it is no surprise that when the wind blew, the house of Brics simply collapsed.

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The Rasool reservation?

It is likely that our “friends” have simply disappeared in the persecution that Trump seems to have aimed at Brics countries over their plans to dump his dollar for a shiny new trade currency.

Or perhaps they are stunned in silence by the own goal our ambassador to the US scored and the quick boot he received in response.

I argued several months ago that then-ambassador Ndumiso Ntshinga should be strong enough to represent us in a Trump White House and outlined my reservations. He was replaced. I then argued that his successor, Ebrahim Rasool, should be flexible and free to play politics but firm enough to ensure sovereignty.

Instead, Rasool lost his head, misread the room and launched a tirade against Trump and white supremacy. He also claimed US action against SA was an attack on the incumbent ANC — in the way only a deluded cadre could.

One wonders if Rasool has been so busy gossiping and trying to prove his relevance that he has totally missed that the incumbent in SA is not the ANC but a GNU coalition.

Perhaps he could replace the tinfoil hat with one made of newspaper. He would then understand that SA’s foreign policy is not the ANC party line.

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If not a newspaper, perhaps A Short Guide to Diplomacy may help. That could remind him that no matter his thoughts on Trump, he should not give a loose cannon ammo.

Rasool expected applause and support. Instead, he got shocked faces of disbelief and facepalms at his political naivety.

The job was always going to be difficult for him, but let’s at least ensure that the next ambassador represents us better.

Otherwise, the only help our vulnerable citizens will get will be from passing ships.

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