The BGA South Africa Team, led by Country Director Seara Macheli-Mkhabela, wrote an update to clients on the meeting between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the U.S. President Donald Trump.

Context

  • South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accompanied by a high delegation of ministers, business leaders, organized labor leaders and golfers had a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 22 in Washington, D.C. Prior to the trip, the expectation was that Ramaphosa, a seasoned businessman who was part of the negotiating team of South Africa’s transition to democracy, would again negotiate favorably for South African interests and convince Trump that South Africa is still an attractive investment destination.
  • Ramaphosa told the media before he left for Washington that the meeting would be mainly to reset South Africa-U.S. relations. He reassured South Africans that the sovereignty of the country would not be compromised, and the priorities of South Africa would be protected.

Significance

  • Trump began the meeting with Ramaphosa in the Oval Office with journalists present as he often does with high-profile foreign visitors. Soon after the meeting started, Trump showed a video and newspaper clippings that he said served as evidence that the South African government was not protecting Afrikaner farmers from killings. Ramaphosa and his South African delegation pushed back against Trump’s allegations but took a nonconfrontational approach toward the U.S. president. Based on Ramaphosa’s briefing after the summit, it appears both sides followed a similar friendly posture in their private lunch meeting.
  • The tenor of the meeting and the ensuing lunch were relatively cordial and created an environment for further dialogue on trade and other issues of mutual interest to South Africa and to global affairs. Despite the public display of tensions over Trump’s charges of genocide against Afrikaners, Ramaphosa described his meetings as having achieved “reengagement” with Washington after relations had faced a spiral downward in recent months.

Implications

  • The delegation was able to table a trade proposal from South Africa that included critical minerals, and the trade minister said the delegation had proposed buying liquified natural gas from the United States. Ramaphosa was able to convey that South Africa-U.S. trade relations are critical to South Africa’s economy and that the country’s crime situation is widespread and a social ill due to high levels of unemployment. He also emphasized the importance of foreign direct investment and the continuation of U.S. business in South Africa in response to questions from Trump and the media.
  • South Africa took steps to allow Starlink, the satellite company owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, to operate in the country by proposing new policies that would ease regulatory barriers for foreign telecommunication companies. The key change would allow companies such as Starlink to meet “black economic empowerment” requirements through investment programs rather than the traditional 30 percent local ownership rules.

We will continue to keep you updated on developments in South Africa as they occur. If you have any comments or questions, please contact BGA South Africa Country Director Seara Macheli-Mkhabela at smacheli-mkhabela@bowergroupasia.com.

Best regards,

BGA South Africa Team

A small ginko leaf

Country Director, South Africa

Seara is a seasoned business executive with more than 20 years of experience in her field. She has served in executive roles for multinational pharmaceutical, technology and data services companies. A qualified lawyer, Seara specializes in intellectual property, pricing regulation frameworks, sustainable community development initiatives and stakeholder collaboration. Since transitioning from the legal to corporate world in 2000, Seara has focused on community development and promoting collaboration between the public sector and the health, energy, power cabling, telecommunication and mining sectors. More recently, she has worked on climate change adaptation initiatives. Seara’s work has fostered collaboration on pharmaceutical and mining ... Read More