Last night, with the whole world watching, South Africa was exposed as a country plagued by violence, with a struggling economy, collapsing infrastructure and overall stagnation.
This was the outcome of the conversation between Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Donald Trump of the United States, and it was painful to watch.
I warned a week ago that, in light of President Trump’s statements about South Africa and the recall of South Africa’s ambassador, rushing into a meeting between Ramaphosa and Trump would be premature.
Obviously, it could not just be an ordinary conversation between leaders, as other countries have recently had with Trump.
The meeting should have been preceded by talks between lower-level political officials to pave the way for a meaningful conversation. Apparently, President Ramaphosa did not think it was necessary.
After last night, the entire world knows that South Africa is a country where calls to kill Afrikaners and farmers (“Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer”) are publicly and frequently chanted.
The world knows that South Africa is a country where Afrikaners and other minorities are bullied, oppressed and marginalised by race-based legislation.
Why was it necessary for President Trump to ask, with the whole world watching, why Julius Malema has not yet been arrested for his incitement to murder?
Why did President Trump need to invite South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa to his office just to get a feeble excuse out of him, i.e., that Ramaphosa does not support Malema’s remarks?
Everyone in South Africa already knows that President Ramaphosa remains silent on this matter and does not confront or contradict Malema. Everyone in South Africa knows that President Ramaphosa repeatedly denies the existence of farm murders.
Last Tuesday, President Ramaphosa visited Nampo where a memorial wall with the names of over a thousand farmers who were brutally murdered was erected – a wall he chose not to visit.
President Ramaphosa’s attempt to reach out and strengthen economic ties with the United States should be welcomed. It is essential to obtain investments and capital injections to save the South African economy from further stagnation.
It is clear, though, that those investments and capital injections will not materialise as long as President Ramaphosa and the ANC cling to trite, failed and race-based economic policies, such as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), Affirmative Action (AA) and the expropriation of property without compensation.
As long as these policies remain the foundation of government policy, the Government of National Unity (GNU) will fail to grow the economy and facilitate essential job creation.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) will continue to promote and protect the interests of Afrikaners and other minorities in South Africa and abroad.
We will also keep the pressure on to ensure that the ANC’s trite race-based economic policies, imposed on everyone, are abolished and replaced with economic policies with a proven track record of success worldwide.
President Ramaphosa received the message about what is wrong in South Africa loud and clear. From now on, the world will keep a close eye on the country to see whether these warnings are heeded.
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