Can Trump Force Regime Change on Toxic South Africa? – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

Trump and the GOP are adamant that South Africa’s policies and allies are toxic. For its president’s part, keeping them intact is pretty much a case of do or die. That will make ‘toenadering’ – an Afrikaans word for rapprochement – quite insurmountable. The prickly dilemma Ramaphosa faces is that, less than head of state, he’s an allocator of life-giving patronage. In the “Gangster State,” it puts more than his leadership on the line. Cutting bloated comrades adrift from their looting power could put his life on the line.

In the high-stakes encounter this week, Trump and his inner circle will be cajoling a weak and unprincipled character who is less in the business of governing 66 million people and more in giving party elites ongoing access to what remains of the national treasure. Don’t take my word for it. The Pretoria High Court, summing up a rare prosecution of one such pig in clover, cut to the chase.

What is most disturbing is the total lack of dignity and shame by people in leadership positions who abuse public funds with naked greed for their own benefit without a moment’s consideration of the circumstances of fellow citizens who live in absolute squalor throughout the country with no basic services.

Donald Trump’s bulky and obdurate guest comes to Washington bristling over the batch of 59 Afrikaner refugees begot by his executive order, “Addressing egregious actions of the Republic of South Africa.” Ramaphosa must fend off some difficult demands, none more so than to stop a genocide on minority Afrikaners who predate his Venda tribe. He can’t make head or tail of it. Misinformation — where’s the evidence? Too ridiculous for words. (RELATED: South African President Ramaphosa to the White House)

Such was the tenor of last week’s government statement on X: “No Genocide in South Africa.” It went on swearing a commitment to constitutional principles, a respect for human rights, and equality. Allegations of discrimination and persecution, it said, are unfounded. (RELATED: The Plight of the Afrikaners Is a Clarifying Moment for Western Civilization)

Ramaphosa may well invite Trump to visit the country to see for himself a beautiful land filled with beautiful people. Not a sight or sniff of genocide.

That may be true. When, however, the niceties and lunch are out of the way, the guest may latch onto the Trumpian playbook: the refugee program for Afrikaners is not meant to be taken at face value. The crafty purpose is to undermine the moral standing of a government that has given the Trump government all manner of trouble.

As wild as the claim of genocide may be to “cupcake” (Ramaphosa’s nickname in the ruling party), the claim is no wilder than the one his government lodged against Israel at The Hague. Hence, the Trumpian playbook: you have accused Israel of doing what your Mullah chums in Tehran crave to do to Israel. Right-ho then. Let’s see how you can handle “genocide” smeared on your crappy door.

It will set the South African leader in a spin. Disorient him, because his party has played games with genocide too often. The man was the deputy president in 2015 when his government let Sudan President Al-Bashir escape arrest on its home soil.

In March 2016, the country’s Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that failure to apprehend the fugitive was unlawful. For its part, Amnesty complained that South Africa had “Breached its international and domestic legal obligations” by letting Al-Bashir skip the country after the ICC had issued a warrant for committing “five counts of crimes against humanity.” It was the full deck: murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, rape. It was, it is, and continues. The toll in Darfur surmounts 400,000, a genocide to equal one closer to home.

Ramaphosa made sure that his tyrant neighbour, Robert Mugabe, who confiscated all white farms and dished them out to comrades, retired with hero status and an Aladdin trove of loot. Not forgetting the genocide that his chum ordered on the Ndebele of Matabeleland. Not omitting Ramaphosa embracing the rigged replacement, President Mnangagwa, the man who had led Mugabe’s genocide.

If his comrades must be brought to book, Ramaphosa leaves it to international courts to do the dirty work while deaf to the plight and pleas of Zimbabweans: “The SADC (a regional body headed by Ramaphosa) is merely a collection of heads of state bent on supporting the status quo rather than the well-being of citizens.”

Is it any wonder that Afrikaner farmers don’t trust Ramaphosa when he swears he won’t confiscate farms?

As for the government statement on X on the eve of Ramaphosa’s powwow with Trump, it was more of the same empty claims. “Unfounded allegations of discrimination” belies a statute book containing no fewer than 142 laws making white skin a detriment and black skin the real deal. In labour law, tight quotas for non-blacks are called “Employment Equity,” while “Transformation” (Ramaphosa’s favourite mantra) makes it a criminal offence to employ too many workers of the wrong colour. For going up the pecking order in his ploy of cadre deployment, there are two painless qualifications: a black skin and loyalty.

The special envoy who will be in the White House contingent is a cadre deluxe. Ramaphosa has “entrusted” Mcebisi Jonas to:

Advance South Africa’s diplomatic, trade and bilateral priorities; to lead negotiations, to foster strategic partnerships, and to engage with U.S. government special officials and private-sector leaders.

For going up the pecking order in Ramaphosa’s cooked governance by clueless cadres, there are two hard and fast qualifications: black skin and loyalty. His special envoy to Washington is a cadre deluxe, with ties to Iran through his position as chairman of MTN — a multinational telecom giant with an operating division in the terror state.

The special envoy is symptomatic of the rot. Anti-white and not shy about it, the special envoy coming to Washington called President Trump “a racist homophobe” and a “narcissistic right-winger.” One may add that, being an acolyte of pro-Hamas Ramaphosa, and being chairman of pro-Iran MTN, Jonas is a deluxe supporter of Hamas. The company is in the line of fire of complainants in a U.S. case. It allegedly violated the US Anti-Terrorism Act by providing material support to known terrorist organisations. Parties are seeking damages on behalf of American soldiers and civilians killed or wounded in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2017. This is on top of the envoy’s enmeshment in the bribery and corruption case brought by Turkcell.

Tehran has well and truly plucked this low-lying fruit. Can Trump rescue South Africans?

U.S. Congressman Ronny Jackson tore into this excuse for a government in supporting the “U.S.–South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act.” Its purpose will be to “review the bilateral ties between the U.S. and South Africa” and help advance the government’s foreign policy agenda by giving it “the tools necessary to impose sanctions on South African officials who support America’s adversaries.” And there he may be, a supporter-in-chief of Iran, pumping Trump’s painful hand at the Oval Office powwow.

Over the course of the meeting, expect Ramaphosa to assure Trump and his inner circle that South Africa is not a rogue state. He may boast about the constitution. Swear that the country is governed by the rule of law. As it is — now and then.

The rule of law bit its proverbial tongue when Ramaphosa dislodged Zuma. For years, Ramaphosa, as deputy president, looked over the skulking shoulder of President Zuma while he flogged public assets, even functions of government, to Indian brothers and illegal immigrants. Keeping quiet, Ramaphosa was complicit in the capital crime of State Capture, amounting to a silent coup or high treason. But the rule of law sat on its bum, and the Chief Justice swore in Ramaphosa at the inauguration.

Former President Thabo Mbeki conceded that traitors remain in Ramaphosa’s government. As for Zuma, far from receiving a life sentence, he was sprung from prison and went on to head the majority party in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, after instigating violent sabotage of infrastructure and commerce.

The rule of law is spasmodic and, like everything in Ramaphosa’s regime, aligned with justice metered out according to the pigment of skin. A court ruled that the incendiary song and dance, “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer,” was permitted speech. The Constitutional Court then ruled out leave to appeal against the anti-white ruling. Anti-Jewish sentiment is another facet of South African justice. A panel disqualified a nomination for the Supreme Court because he was a supporter of Israel.

Rule of law? It would be a simpler matter to cultivate orchids on a dumpsite than to marry the rule of law to systemic bigotry.

READ MORE:

South African President Ramaphosa to the White House

The Plight of the Afrikaners Is a Clarifying Moment for Western Civilization

Steve Apfel is an economist, founder and former director of the School of Management Accounting, and an authority on anti-Zionism. He is a prolific author of non-fiction, but with a novel to his name.