First Kagame, now Donald Trump: Why are all eyes on South Africa right now?

by Nomonde Simelane

Shortly after rallying behind President Cyril Ramaphosa against Rwanda and their president, some patriotic South African citizens quickly had to regroup to unite and defend their nation against Donald Trump and like-minded people who posed a danger to the republic.

The chaos does not remotely begin to describe the current state of international relations and politics, however, it does provide a slight idea. These past couple of months have been characterised by intense conflict and bickering between internet users and politicians from different countries worldwide. As the constitutional capital of the world, South Africa and its citizens have been right in the middle of this conflict in one way or another.

Not long after having to fend off President Paul Kagame and his Rwandan citizens for disrespecting Mzansi’s first citizen, President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africans have sounded the call to put American President Donald Trump in his place. Although South Africa is plagued with a plethora of internal issues, citizens have proven on more than one occasion that those differences will be put aside to unite against any common enemy who dares to pose any threat to mzansi’s well-being.

Taking to his X (formerly Twitter), President Donald Trump revealed that due to the recent passing of the Expropriation Bill, The United States would temporarily suspend future funding to South Africa as he believed that this bill constitutes a massive human rights violation.

In response, President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that he would not approach this matter with a begging bowl, rather, he would seek to educate the American president, as his stance is ill-informed and dangerous. In his post, Cyril clarifies the importance of the bill to the betterment of South Africa and urges the Trump administration to engage with mzansi’s government in order to better understand the land reform policies that govern the country.

The final paragraph where President Ramaphosa states, “The US remains a key strategic political and trade partner for South Africa. With the exception of PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIV/Aids programme, there is no other funding that is received by South Africa from the United States,” has gotten internet users talking they believe that Cyril was taking a slight jab at the US President, essentially telling him that mzansi is not as dependent on U.S funding as Donald Trump would care to admit.

These users have commended the president’s level-headedness in dealing with both Paul Kagame and Donald Trump.

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