Cape Town (AFP) – South Africa is seeking “direct dialogue” with Washington to break a stalemate in tense diplomatic ties, the ambassador told AFP Monday, as Pretoria sought to avoid exclusion from a key US-Africa trade deal. Relations have deteriorated since President Donald Trump took office, with Washington cutting aid and berating President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over discredited claims of a “white genocide”.
The “situation is tense and there’s a bit of a stalemate,” ambassador Roelf Meyer told AFP on the sidelines of an event to launch his memoir. “My view is that it can be addressed if there is direct dialogue between the US and South African authorities, and we hope we can establish that,” he said. A chief negotiator for South Africa’s white nationalist government in talks that would lead to the end of apartheid, Meyer was named as ambassador in April, nearly a year after the previous envoy was expelled.
South Africa is braced for the possibility of being removed from Washington’s duty-free trade programme for Africa, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which has been extended to December 2028 and is reviewed annually. Meyer said he hoped the talks on the deal could bring “the right facts across in the process before decisions are being taken”.
Highlighting issues disputed between the two countries, Washington in mid-September announced restrictions on visas for South Africans who promote “race-based discrimination, incite violence, or enable land confiscation without compensation”. Last year, the United States launched a programme to resettle white Afrikaners who claim they face persecution in South Africa, which the government rejects.
“We have to be able to sit down and put the facts on the table,” said Meyer, 79. “South Africa is a sovereign country, like the US is, and we have to respect from each side that situation.” The standoff resulted in Washington refusing to accredit Pretoria for G20 meetings in the United States, including the December summit.
Asked about calls from countries like Germany for South Africa to be included, Meyer told the event that Pretoria had “moved on”. Representatives of South Africa would take part in the business arm of the G20, called the B20, in November in Washington, he said.
© 2024 AFP
