There comes a time in the life of any formerly colonised nation when it must decide whether it wants to be a sovereign country or a colony thatflies a democratic flag with nominal independence. South Africa is in that moment.
The last born to political independence in the broader Africa enters this moment just as Washington is emboldened to remind us of its true colours — by sending us a character short of a diplomat but a potential clown from the MAGA (Make America Great Again) circus.
The picture painted — of receiving this character with red carpets instead of red lines — is teaching the Empire how to disrespect us further.
Our president played into the hands of the white supremacist template by fetching Roelf Meyer, an apartheid politician, from the dead.Meyer is inexperienced in the diplomatic practice. With this appointment, we send the message that there is no reason to manage this relationship with seasoned diplomats, all we need is loyalty to the first offices. Hence, on the American ambassador to South Africa, there is no other way of saying that the US, under Donald Trump, has moved from a Bozell to a Boswell circus in the way it allows him to handle the diplomatic relations between both countries.
We are forced to conclude that they have sent us a jester from the MAGA circus — because this is a man whose only diplomatic credential is loyalty to Trumpism. He does not understand the meaning of the three demarchesthe Department of International Relations and Cooperation issued to him. He enters diplomatic engagements with no intention to compromise. When he does not get what he wants, he thinks he can publicly ventilate anything about his hosts.
Apologists of white supremacy and its imperialist project will argue that the Boswell Wilkie Circus was progressive in its racial orientation for its time — one of the few places where black and white children could laugh at the same clown.
However, those of us with basic political consciousness, will not forget the racially differentiated ticketing lines, the separate queues or the discriminatory gate practices. A different price for tickets with a white entrance this side, non-white entrance that other side.
That is what US foreign policy wants to subject us to. It can be described as the political-economy of Boswell Circus Diplomacy from the US, matched with pliable diplomacy that has clientelism written on it from the side of South Africa.
The US is basically saying: come into the circus tent of the rules-based order but queue according to race and class.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act is the differentiated ticketing line. You can enter the US market but only if you abandon broad-based BEE (B-BBEE), privatise and condemn Palestine. Critical minerals are the discriminatory gate practice. You have manganese and platinum but you must leave the beneficiation tent and go to the raw export queue.
On the land transformation question? You must go to the back of the queue and explain yourself to racist Afrikaner lobbyists in Washington.
BRICS? Wrong circus, wrong tent. Go to another pliable gate.
This is the Boswell Circus economics in the American power-play which entertains the world with democracy and free market slogans, while maintaining separate queues for who gets to industrialise and who must remain a raw material supplier.
The US’s asks: Abandon B-BBEE. The white queue for capital, the black queue for cheap labour. Mayibuye subscribes to deepening B-BBEE into worker ownership, not getting rid of it. Give them critical minerals raw. The beneficiation queue is reserved for America.
We say the battery must be made in Bojanala, not in Boston. Beneficiation at source is sovereignty that we must never negotiate with anyone, especially our modern “colonisers”.
Ministers Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and Ronald Lamola might have been heard saying South Africa will not budge on our national interests but it is worrisome when the president’s adviser, Alistair Ruiters, says Pretoria has made concessions including commitments relating to critical minerals and a review of aspects of B-BBEE.
• Wa Magogodi is the deputy president of Afrika Mayibuye Movement
- South Africa faces a choice between full sovereignty or remaining a nominally independent colony, with current US-South Africa relations reflecting a power imbalance.
- The US has appointed Roelf Meyer, an inexperienced apartheid-era politician, as ambassador to South Africa, signaling a preference for loyalty over diplomatic expertise.
- The US under Donald Trump has devalued diplomatic relations, sending an ambassador whose main credential is loyalty to Trumpism and who disregards diplomatic protocol.
- US foreign policy towards South Africa is described as racially and economically discriminatory, exemplified by the African Growth and Opportunity Act and restrictions on beneficiation and land transformation.
- South African officials, including president's adviser Alistair Ruiters, have reportedly made concessions to the US on critical minerals and B-BBEE, despite public assertions of protecting national interests.
