Ramaphosa’s Oval Office meeting with Trump is a diplomatic coup — now he must secure a deal

President Cyril Ramaphosa has scored a diplomatic coup. After months of a caustic, damaging blitzkrieg by America’s president, Donald Trump, Ramaphosa has finally kicked the White House door open. 

Let’s be clear: diplomatic channels did not deliver this moment. Despite a hopeful disposition by South Africa, Washington had shut the door and blue-ticked the country. No amount of traffic from government, diplomatic and business delegations could break the padlock to Trump’s door.

On Capitol Hill, word was that South Africa underestimates the acrimony. Even sympathetic allies who had supported the anti-apartheid struggle were wary of being associated with a country that was receiving unprecedented attention from Trump. Not even America’s nemeses, such as Iran, Cuba and China, were receiving the slew of executive orders and well-coordinated, sadistic attacks that South Africa was receiving from the White House resident. But long before Trump won the election, the tide against South Africa had turned and there were already talks of sanctions. 

A friendlier White House under former president Joe Biden could not fully prevent the moves by some US legislators to punish South Africa for daring to take Israel to the International Court of Justice over its ongoing genocide in Gaza. Relationships with countries that the US deemed enemies – Iran, China, Russia – were also provoking umbrage. Ramaphosa will definitely face these questions from a well-prepared US. 

But how did a deceptively placid Ramaphosa climb such a colossal obstacle? Powerful, rich friends. A language that Trump understands too well. 

It was Ramaphosa and Trump’s mutual friend, Johann Rupert, who broke the padlock, by initiating the first call between them after the election in November and continued to whisper in Trump’s ear that there were no violent land seizures of white-owned land in South Africa. A source on Capitol Hill told me “Rupert is a true patriot. There were others like the big easy (Ernie Els) but Rupert repeatedly told him to stop the nonsense and talk to Ramaphosa.” Rupert is reportedly in Washington already and will be a part of Ramaphosa’s entourage. The perfect case study of a rich, safe, successful Afrikaner landowner!

So what is Trump and Elon Musk’s ketamine-induced vitriol towards South Africa all about? Why would a US president and the richest man in the world become torch bearers for the obstinate, persistent disinformation campaign? Are Afrikaners just pawns in a broader geopolitical and commercial interest game?

Musk wants Starlink to operate in South Africa without complying with regulatory laws which require telecommunications companies to have at least 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups. The disinformation machinery claims that “they want him to give away 30% of his company”. The truth is less entertaining. The South African government has offered a nimble approach to compliance measures, including equity-equivalent programmes like building satellite training centres for rural youth, venture capital for community startups and grants to equip underconnected schools with terminals. This would allow Starlink to legally operate within the confines of South Africa’s laws.

Starlink faces regulatory obligations elsewhere. India wants the company to form a local entity and get security clearance before it can operate. In France there were protests over environmental concerns. The Philippines demanded that Starlink partner with local telcos and, similarly, Indonesia required local partnerships and compliance with satellite regulation laws. And, wait for it, in Russia and China Starlink is banned due to state control.

Is it not ironic, with a touch of hypocrisy, that in the US similar bans of TikTok are on the table? The US government has enacted the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which, among other regulations, demands that ByteDance – TikTok’s China-based company – divest its US operations by next month or face a nationwide ban! It is required to also sell its US operations to an American entity. The matter has gone all the way to the US Supreme Court. The US fights to enforce its laws, it seems!

What else is on the agenda? A transactional Trump wants a deal. Jeune Afrique reports that the State Department endorses the supremacy of economic/commercial diplomacy over conventional diplomacy. It also lays out priorities for Africa: “Commerce, migration, peace.” 

With more than 75% of the world’s platinum reserves, there is space for a mutually beneficial package. The deal could include special economic zones for US companies in South Africa, especially those in manufacturing, logistics, transport and clean energy. Equity stakes, tax incentives, fast-tracked permits and protections for US companies could be thrown into the mix. 

The potential for a win-win offering of industrial growth, supporting US reindustrialisation while counterbalancing China’s interests on the continent, could be palatable to Trump. On agriculture, South Africa also has much to offer. Citrus, wine, grapes could be packaged as high-quality exports, under a preferential access arrangement. Agribusiness is another exciting area of opportunity and partnerships for US companies. 

One thing is certain, South Africa cannot go into the Oval Office without a promise of a deal. Aid should not even feature in the vocabulary. That boat has sailed. A friendly senator told me: “South Africa must lead a greedy Trump to Canaan or the Garden of Eden!” DM

Redi Tlhabi is a South African journalist, producer, author and a former radio presenter.