by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG – AS cracks widen between the presidency and the main partner in South Africa’s shaky coalition government, there is confusion over the status of the Special Envoy to the United States /North America.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Mcebisi Jonas as the envoy in April this year, as part of efforts to repair relations with the Donald Trump administration after the expulsion of South African ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, and other diplomatic disagreements.
Apparently, Jonas remains in South Africa.
According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the US has denied Jonas a visa and rejected his credentials. Ramaphosa’s office has rejected the claims by the DA, the second biggest party in the coalition with the Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC).
Either way, it appears the tensions between South Africa and the US are far from over since Trump’s return to the White House earlier this year.
Among Trump’s first crack of the whip was in March when his government declared Rasool persona non-grata and accused him of being a “race-baiting politician”, after Rasool accused Trump and allies of promoting white supremacy, in comments to a South African think tank.
This sealed his expulsion.
However, Ramaphosa’s appointment of politician-cum-businessman, appears to be some untidy piece of international relations management after an interview, dating back to 2020, resurfaced whereby Jonas is quoted as labelling Trump a “racist, homophobic narcissist and right-winger.”
At that time Trump was serving his first tenure.
There is also the ongoing litigation in the US concerning MTN, the mobile operator whose board he chairs, in relation to MTN’s Irancell partnership. MTN is locked in legal action in US courts under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
This week, the DA claimed the US denied Jonas a diplomatic visa in May this year. It is the first time such a claim has been made.
Emma Louise Powell, DA spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation, also claimed the Presidency had been informed Jonas would not be recognised as South Africa’s official interlocutor.
Thus, Ramaphosa was advised on “multiple” occasions that Jonas was not acceptable to Washington and was urged to appoint an alternative envoy.
“Despite these clear and repeated communications, the Presidency continued to mislead the public by insisting that Jonas remained the President’s special envoy to North America, responsible for leading the charge in repairing bilateral relations between our two countries,” Powell said.
Powell said the Presidency owed South Africans an explanation as to how it could justify having doubled down on the appointment of a rapporteur whose credentials had been officially rejected by the host government.
A war of words has ensued.
In response, Ramaphosa’s office accused the DA of “harassing” Jonas.
It said this was the DA’s latest effort to “embarrass” him.
“The DA seeks to add sensationalism to its claim by suggesting President Ramaphosa and Mr Jonas face a crisis in view of the United States’ pending implementation of trade tariffs announced several days ago by President Donald Trump,” the Presidency stated.
Ramaphosa’s aides said Special Envoys were not required to present diplomatic credentials to host countries in the same way that Heads of Mission or other formal diplomats were expected to do.
Furthermore, the nature of the work undertaken by Special Envoys did not typically require them to provide public accounts of their engagements.
The presidency accused the DA of a “persistent campaign” against South Africa’s national interest and its “posture of trying to embarrass and belittle the country.”
This depicts the ructions in the coalition of government, which of late has been beset by differences over allegations Ramaphosa was targeting DA ministers for punitive action and protecting ANC ministers accused of corruption.
The DA has opened criminal cases against a number of these ministers in recent days.
The presidency charges that if the DA undermined South Africa’s relations with various nations or institutions, this would harm the viability of businesses and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of South Africans who work in sectors that depend on the expansion of trade relations with the world.
The latest infighting in the coalition government comes two weeks before the 30 percent tariffs imposed by the US take effect.
The US responded in a short statement.
“Due to visa record confidentiality, we have no comment on Department actions with respect to specific cases,” a US State Department spokesperson told South Africa’s state broadcaster.
– CAJ News
