17 Mar, 2025 14:031/2

South Africa responds to envoy’s expulsion from US

Pretoria says it will continue to build a mutually beneficial relationship with Washington, regardless of the decision

South Africa has called the expulsion of its envoy to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, a “regrettable” move, but says it remains committed to engaging with Washington in order to maintain diplomatic relations.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool persona non grata in a post on X on Friday, saying he is no longer welcome in the country. Rubio accused Rasool of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates America and its president, Donald Trump.

In response, South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said he has taken note of the decision by the Trump administration.

“The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter. South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States,” Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement on Saturday.

The action against the diplomat came shortly after he accused Trump in a speech at a South African think tank webinar of leading a “supremacist assault on incumbency” through the ‘Make America Great Again’ campaign.

Tensions between Pretoria and Washington have escalated since Trump took office in January. The US president recently halted all federal funding to South Africa over a controversial land expropriation law, which the African country insists aims to address historical racial disparities in land ownership. Trump claims the legislation violates the rights of white South Africans, who continue to own the majority of farmland despite constituting only about 7% of the population.

The South African government has sought to hold talks with the Trump administration in order to clarify what it calls “misinformation” about the land policy. Last week, Semafor news agency reported that Ambassador Rasool has been unable to secure meetings with American officials.

On Monday, Ramaphosa dismissed claims that his government is being ignored by the White House.

“We cannot be blue-ticked because we are such an important player to the United States of America, as they are an important player to South Africa from a political point of view, from a trade point of view… We cannot be ignored,” he said in response to a question about the situation with Washington.

“A great deal of progress has been made by our ambassador in straightening out the path to ensure that there is meaningful engagement at the diplomatic level,” Ramaphosa said, acknowledging that the diplomat’s expulsion has caused a “hiccup.”

https://www.rt.com/africa/614349-south-africa-responds-envoy-us-expulsion/

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“Farmgate” scandal(This is only one of the crimes he has participated in against is own people)

In June 2022 Ramaphosa was accused of criminal conduct in a complaint filed by Arthur Fraser, a Zuma ally and previous head of the country’s State Security Agency.He alleged that Ramaphosa had covered up a theft in 2020 of at least $4 million in foreign money that had been kept in a couch at Phala Phala, Ramaphosa’s game farm, as well as had kidnapped and bribed the robbery suspects. The allegedly large amount of foreign currency and the manner in which it was stored raised questions regarding the origin of the money and whether it had been properly declared by Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa denied any wrongdoing in the matter. Regarding the theft, he said that a smaller amount of money had been stolen when he was not present at the farm and that he reported the theft once he was made aware of it. He asserted that the stolen money was from the sale of game and not any nefarious activity. Details provided by Ramaphosa and his staff surrounding the incident were murky, though, and at times appeared contradictory, and the appearance of impropriety grew. Multiple government agencies, including the Office of the Public Protector (national ombudsman) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), opened investigations into the matter, which had become known as “Farmgate.”

The scandal was a blow to Ramaphosa’s anti-corruption reputation, and it had some calling for his resignation. In September 2022 a Section 89 investigation was opened in the National Assembly to determine whether impeachment proceedings against the president were warranted. The Section 89 Panel Report, submitted to the National Assembly on November 30, found that Ramaphosa might be guilty of having violated the country’s constitution in his actions surrounding the “Farmgate” scandal; he rejected the findings and proclaimed his innocence. The National Assembly met on December 13 to discuss the report’s findings and decide whether impeachment proceedings should be initiated against him. But the ANC, the largest party in the body, had instructed its members to reject the call for an impeachment inquiry, so it was no surprise when the majority of the National Assembly voted against it. Days later Ramaphosa was reelected president of the ANC at the party’s leadership conference.

In March 2023 the preliminary findings of the public protector’s investigation were leaked. They indicated that no evidence of wrongdoing by Ramaphosa had been found. The official investigation report, released on June 30, 2023, confirmed that Ramaphosa had been cleared of wrongdoing by the public protector. SARB’s investigation report, dated August 2023, focused on whether he had violated Exchange Control Regulation 6(1), which stipulated, “Every person resident in the Republic who becomes entitled to sell or to procure the sale of any foreign currency, shall within thirty days after becoming so entitled, make or cause to be made, a declaration in writing of such foreign currency to the Treasury or to an authorised dealer.”

The report included a statement from the identified buyer of the game, who referred to the money as a security deposit and said delivery of the animals had not occurred for reasons that included the COVID-19 pandemic. SARB found that Ramaphosa had not violated Exchange Control Regulation 6(1) because the money was stolen before the sale was finalized. SARB’s investigation and findings were derided by many, including members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and other political parties, who described them with phrases such as “a whitewash,” “a cover-up,” and “unadulterated claptrap.”

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cyril-Ramaphosa

Marikana massacre: the untold story of the strike leader who died for workers’ rights

In 2012 a strike at the Marikana platinum mine in South Africa ended when police opened fire, killing 34 miners. Investigations have revealed one rebel leader died trying to broker a peaceful solution. Nick Davies uncovers his story

Nick Davies Tue 19 May 2015 01.00 EDT

On 16 August 2012, South African police opened fire on a large crowd of men who had walked out on strike from a platinum mine at Marikana, about 80 miles north of Johannesburg.They shot down 112 of them, killing 34. In any country, this would have been a traumatic moment. For South Africa, it was a special kind of nightmare, since it revived images of massacres by the state in the old apartheid era, with one brutal difference –this time it was predominantly black policemen, with black senior officers working for black politicians, who were doing the shooting.

In response, President Jacob Zuma appointed a commission of inquiry, chaired by a retired judge,

many stories like this on Ramaphoso