The US press is hitting back against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s selections of former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas as South Africa’s newly appointed Special Envoy to the United States.
IOL’s research has found that the two publications that dug up anti-Trump comments Jonas allegedly made in a 2020 speech are supporters of Trump’s Republican party and are conservative if not far-right and national-populist.
Overnight, Breitbart referred to a 2020 speech in which Jonas called President Donald Trump a “racist,” “homophobe,” and “narcissistic right-winger”. Jonas’ comments were apparently contained in a November 2020 address to the Ahmad Kathrada Foundation, an organisation established in 2008 with the mission to “deepen non-racialism in post-apartheid South Africa”.
Jonas also allegedly questioned how, given Trump’s win in the Presidential elections in 2016, how “we got to a situation where a narcissistic right-winger took charge of the world’s greatest economic and military powerhouse is something that we need to ponder over. It is something that all democracies need to ponder over,” Breitbart’s report stated.
Another publication, National Review, carried a similar story, while also saying that the tense relationship between the US and South Africa, which it called an “ongoing spat” will not be “going away anytime soon”.
National Review also stated that being a Special Envoy is different from that of an Ambassadorial position. Trump expelled South Africa’s previous Ambassador, “Ebrahim Rasool in March, after Breitbart unearthed comments he made on a webinar criticising Trump and the MAGA [Make America Great Again] movement as white supremacists,” National Review said.
The Presidency yesterday announced Jonas’ appointment. Jonas, one of Ramaphosa’s trusted confidants, has been in politics since he was 14 and has extensive experience in the business and financial sectors.
The statement specifically noted that Jonas will continue in his role as independent non-executive chairman of the MTN Group alongside his responsibilities as Special Envoy.
MTN, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, has operations in Iran.
National Review quoted Michael Walsh, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, saying that South Africa’s tied with Iran were already a subject of concern in the White House.
Ramaphosa’s statement said that Jonas will “lead negotiations, foster strategic partnerships and engage with US government officials and private-sector leaders to promote our nation’s interests”.
“For decades, South Africa and the United States of America have maintained a historical and strategic relationship. In the interest of our country, our region and the rest of our continent, I remain committed to rebuilding and maintaining this relationship for more decades on the basis of mutual respect, recognition of each other’s sovereignty and benefit for our respective peoples,” said Ramaphosa’s statement via the Presidency.
IOL
