SA must cautiously manage G20 handover to US, says under fire ambassador Ebrahim Rasool
Rasool, who was posted to the US at the beginning of the year, has just been told by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio via social media that he is no longer welcome in that country
FILE: Former Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool engages with the press at Pinelands Blue School on 29 May 2024, where he’s expected to cast his vote. Picture: Skhu Nkomphela/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - South African Ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, says our government must cautiously manage the G20 handover as it navigates frosty relations with America.
Rasool, who was posted to the US at the beginning of the year, has just been told by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio via social media that he is no longer welcome in that country
This is over remarks the ambassador made during a foreign policy engagement hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.
South Africa has to handover the G20 presidency to the United States later this year.
Two american secretaries have already refused to attend some of the G20 meetings which have taken place in the country.
Rasool says South Africa has to remain strategic throughout its G20 presidency.
"Salvage that baby from the bath water, because the healthy disrespect for global institutions may just - if we play our cards right - be the way in which when we hand over to Donald Trump after four years of global self-leadership of the G20, there may be possibly one president that could reform some of the global architecture."
While South Africa insists it will be sending an envoy to the United States to clarify the current disinformation campaign on the Expropriation Act, Rasool says there is no need to rush this decision.
With the US administration yet to fill the state department, Rasool says it has not set up an Africa division nor appointed a secretary for the continent.
Rasool added that South Africa must take notes from the recent humiliating visit by Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House.
"Don't come empty handed. Be ready to deal. Don't come and say, 'Oh, we want to discuss this and explain to you'. There's no room for explanation. You saw the Zelensky effect. If you prevaricate, you're a loser. You've got to come here knowing what's your top line, what's your middle line, what's your bottom line, and then put it forward as a negotiating strategy, otherwise you're a loser.