Time to show some spine, Ramaphosa

If South Africa chooses to exempt Iran from the Brics naval exercise, Pretoria must stop claiming it won’t allow itself to be bullied by the US – it has been pushed over for some time by Washington.

Such a move by our government indicates that South Africa has bowed to bullying by “dictator” Donald Trump.

President Cyril Ramaphosa repeated the phrase, “we can’t be bullied”, several times in his address at the weekend.

However, he smiled every time he uttered the words, a sign that he does not mean it. He was telling South Africans “read my lips”, when he should be saying “do as I do, not as I say”.

Ramaphosa’s foreign policy stance contradicts the approaches taken by both icon Nelson Mandela and his successor, Thabo Mbeki.

The two leaders clearly conveyed South Africa’s neutrality or non-alignment, but they remained firm in their stance against attempts to dictate which international allies South Africa should select.

All US administrations knew this, yet none acted like Trump. Trump himself, during his first administration, wasn’t like he is now; he respected South Africa to a large extent.

He deployed a good ambassador to the country, Lana Marks, who worked to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘We are not worried about a US invasion of South Africa’ – Ramaphosa

This time, Trump has displayed his true colours as a right-wing leader, chauvinist and racist who believes in white supremacy.

During his 2024 presidential election campaign, he promised to pursue peace worldwide, but after he was elected, he did the opposite. He is a rogue president who issues orders that undermine democracy.

Opponents are targeted for arrests and harassment and institutions that do not conform to his dictates are silenced and their state support withdrawn.

His predecessor, Joe Biden, mostly resisted the influence of the deep state and Zionist Israeli lobby that drive US politics.

He exercised independence on some issues. Biden’s friendliness towards South Africa was not surprising, as he was an anti-apartheid politician during his days as a US senator.

He knew where South Africa came from and wasn’t going to be hard on it. He never questioned South Africa’s land reform as he understood its necessity, although his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, pushed against South Africa’s stands on the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

Ramaphosa is not as firm as Mandela, who would have told Trump to take a hike.

He cancelled Russian President Vladimir Putin’s in-person participation at the Brics summit in Johannesburg in August 2023.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Ramaphosa mulls taking action against groups calling on US to intervene in SA

He feared it would offend the US, which signed, but did not ratify, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and, therefore, is not entitled to influence the ICC’s decisions.

Putin was indicted by the ICC for the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian troops.

Similarly, under Ramaphosa, although China-SA relations are said to be strong, they remain below par in my view.

Pretoria is reluctant to endorse and use China’s Belt and Road Initiative. This could provide an overnight solution to address the country’s infrastructure woes.

The reality is the US’ dominance in the world is gone, thanks to China’s rapid economic growth over the past decades, which propelled the Global South to the world centre stage.

The boycott of the dollar as a trading currency is gaining momentum among developing countries and is a final nail in the coffin of US dominance.

Even US allies such as India and Saudi Arabia have joined the petrodollar boycott by paying for oil in local currencies.

By discouraging Iran from participating in the naval exercise due to the threats posed by the US, Ramaphosa fears a caged paper tiger, Trump, who has not accepted the fact that the US is no longer the sole economic powerhouse in the world.

NOW READ: Ramaphosa urges national unity as South Africa enters 2026