President Cyril Ramaphosa’s critic, Andile Lungisa, has spoken glowingly about him following South Africa’s dramatic visit to the White House this week.
Lungisa, also an ANC national executive committee member and part of the party’s subcommittee on international relations, told Sunday World that Ramaphosa handled the joint media engagement with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday well.
Lungisa believes no one could have handled the hostile situation better than Ramaphosa and says those criticising him are doing so from a position of ignorance.
According to Lungisa, Ramaphosa did well by not trying to match Donald Trump’s excitement and allowing the host to speak more.
“President Ramaphosa was not the host. In the diplomatic space, you take the tune from the host, and the host decides when you must speak and for how long.
“Trump was the host and rightfully dictated terms of what happens. You cannot be a visitor, and you are told that in that house you are visiting they do not drink tea, and you demand tea.”
Lungisa said South Africans are accustomed to theatrics and expected Ramaphosa to match Trump, which is uncalled for. In Lungisa’s view, Ramaphosa handled the situation well, given the strategy of the host to deny him an opportunity to make meaningful statements.
“President Ramaphosa did very well by remaining calm because had he lost his temper as some seem to suggest he should have done, the meeting would have collapsed and put South Africa in an untenable position. Trump ended up conceding, but many did not see it.
That is why he was talking about his many friends in South Africa; it was a concession.”
Those asking for aggression with the US are fanatics who do not understand power dynamics between the two countries.
“Xa usithi masilwe neAmericans, sithembe ntoni? (When people say we must fight the Americans, what are the chances of us winning?) America is our second biggest trading partner after China.
“If the 600 US companies operating in South Africa were to close shop, what will happen to the 700 000 South Africans working there who will be unemployed tomorrow? The consequences would be dire for millions.”
The most important meeting, continued Lungisa, was the one behind the scenes for which Ramaphosa had the responsibility to ensure it happened under peaceful conditions with no hostility.
Lungisa added that there was nothing wrong with the participation of Africa’s richest man, Johann Rupert, in the meeting, saying it was normal that in the world of diplomacy, there were “non-state players”, of which business was one.
“It is logical for Rupert to want things to work in South Africa, where he has most of his businesses operating, because if the country descends into chaos, he stands to lose the most. If he has connections that enabled him to assist his country in mending relations with the US, why not”?
