Why Rasool believes Ramaphosa should be cautious in selecting a new ambassador
Image: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
Ebrahim Rasool, the former South African Ambassador to the US, asserts that President Cyril Ramaphosa's cautious approach to appointing a new ambassador is not just wise—it's essential in the wake of recent diplomatic upheaval.
In an exclusive interview with Independent Media at the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) on Monday in Cape Town, Rasool said the question the country must ask itself is whether it wants to go through the embarrassment of nominating an ambassador, and then having them wait, which was the original plan by the Republicans with him.
Rasool said he was fortunate to have been credentialed by former US President Joe Biden in his last week of office.
'The question is, do we want to go through that embarrassment of the US making our ambassador stay in limbo for a few months, and then because we have nominally appointed an ambassador, it cuts other channels of communication.
'This (current) state shows that you can still pick up the phone, without going through the embassy. That is the one reason why it is correct to be cautious. The second reason is that you cannot allow the US to choose our ambassador to their country for themselves, because what you then do is that you get an echo chamber…then we have someone who goes 'Yes, Mr Trump, you are right'.'
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'Thirdly, if you choose even a mildly independent ambassador, you will not find such a person of integrity who, at some point or other, did not express disquiet about the direction of the United States under President Trump.'
Rasool touched on Mcebisi Jonas, Ramaphosa's special envoy to the US, who was rejected by Washington in May this year.
'Here is an astute business person, but his astuteness economically is also his astuteness politically, and therefore, you won't find a clean slate in terms of that.'
On who could replace the vacant position, he said that 'because people say a white skin can more easily go into the White House, (I've thought) that if you can find a white person with the right values, and in that regard, I threw out the name Marthinus van Schalkwyk.
'Someone whose growth from the National Party to the ANC I have watched, and I think that not him per se, but that that is the kind of person that we can use to satisfy two things - the love of a white skin in the White House, and the values that our country needs presently,' Rasool said.
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