The US still needs influence in Africa and isolating Pretoria would not be the way to go about it.
Diplomacy is like a duck swimming around a pond: not much to see on the surface, but a churning of webbed feet underwater.
That’s why one should often not take too much notice of official statements… and this even applies to the outspoken verbal antics of US President Donald Trump.
Yet, he is cross about South Africa, because he has been told our government and others are orchestrating a genocide against whites, or reinventing apartheid through affirmative action and broad-based black economic empowerment.
Nevertheless, the backroom people on both sides are talking to each other on a possible trade deal, which may help avoid the promised pain from Trump’s 30% tariffs.
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It is also important that Trump’s deputy, Vice-President JD Vance, will represent Washington at the G20 summit here in November.
You may not like what he says sometimes, but Vance is a heavy hitter and that he is coming to SA indicates the US takes the summit seriously.
Diplomatically, the traffic isn’t all one-way against SA, either. If America completely isolates Pretoria, the country will be driven further into the arms of Russia and China.
The US still needs influence in Africa and that would not be the way to go about it.
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