Why South Africans of all races must reject being weaponised in America's culture wars
Judith February 30 May 2025 | 12:33 Donald Trump
Cyril Ramaphosa
United States (US)
President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at the White House in Washington, United States, to meet his counterpart President Donald Trump over resetting the two countries' bilateral ties. Picture: AFP
If a two-term Trump presidency is the backlash to eight years of an urbane, intelligent black man in the White House, then AfriForum's lies about our country could count as the backlash to 31 years of post-apartheid democracy, a sense for this grouping of white people that they have lost their place and voice in the "new" South Africa. This is coupled with a deep dissatisfaction with the ANC-led government (even though they are not alone in this) - if one were to keep it dangerously simple.In both instances, so much hate, fear and loathing have been harboured.The outcome was the vitriol spewed in the Oval Office last Wednesday.Conspiracy theories and disinformation have bubbled from below the surface and gained legitimacy in the most powerful corridor in the world.As President Ramaphosa sat next to President Trump in the almost Rococo-like newly-gilded Oval Office (in every way a shallow reflection of Trump himself) while he dimmed the lights to play footage on a big screen allegedly representing "genocide" in South Africa, Trump was conjuring up the very heart of darkness with blacks as savages and whites their victims.The horror! The horror!It was all so plainly awful; a white bully schooling a black leader about racism. But this is how power and its supporting structures work. Seeing it play out so crudely was astounding even by Trump's standards.
By now, the dust has settled. Thursday morning was somewhat bleak, however.
The world felt a little more unhinged and rational people were surely more depressed than usual about the state of the world.A madman (also deeply corrupt) occupies the White House, exercising power at a whim. Those around him enable his madness through their silence or by actively egging him on, their most base natures revealed. Every dictator has henchmen (and women) acting as enablers.They inhabit a world in which might is right (and white) and in which cruelty is worn like a badge of honour. It is also a world steeped in religiosity. When the Oval Office theatre (literally and figuratively) was over, Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, shot a look at Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, as if to say, "Job done". Leavitt is never seen without a crucifix around her neck as she lies unstintingly for a lying president.But, religion is a performance in this White House."We have brought Jesus back!" the bigots say. Jesus has now become cover for every racist, bullying lie spewed by Trump, his corrupt acolytes and sympathisers around the world.So, the whole macabre scene was wrong, but here we are.Watching Elon Musk stand by having orchestrated much of the disinformation, it was hard not to be emotive because… "what about!?"What about ordinary South Africans? What about all the good things we know to be true about our country, its resilience and the things we do well?As we South Africans also know too well, context is everything. So, as Trump spewed forth acontextually, he reduced us to caricature. But that is all the populist knows. Multi-dimensionalism fits awkwardly into tropes about countries or people.Sadly, many South Africans silently and not-so-silently cheered as Trump tried to "school" Ramaphosa. It would work if Trump had any moral authority to do so, but he is a man who has, as Hillary Clinton has said, left America "feeble and friendless". Many Americans understand fully what a danger he is to democracy as he tears down the guardrails of democracy daily.Yet the South Africans applauding Trump were of all colours; black people, among them the Zumarites, who believed Ramaphosa should not be "kissing the ring" or bowing to monopoly capital, who do not agree with the GNU as currently constituted. Then there were others, amongst them some white people, who wanted Ramaphosa to be embarrassed and who believe they have been the sole victims of the ANC's governance failures and this was a chance for the world to hear it.And then there were many more South Africans of all hues who were flabbergasted at the spectacle.Back home, certain media outlets led with "we must do more about crime!" Of course, we must. Our country has many serious challenges and Ramaphosa has often been insipid, bowing to the party ahead of the country. His tenure has been fraught, to say the least. That is well-documented and spoken about daily in our cacophanous democracy. Those of us who live here also know that crime has spiralled out of all control and this has not happened overnight. The latest murder rate in South Africa is frightening. But, the sad reality is that white people are not specific targets of crime (leaving aside the absurdity of claiming "genocide") - we all are. And if you are black and poor, you are far more likely to experience violence in many forms, including the violence of poverty and marginalisation, the latter often at the hands of the very state charged with protecting you.Ask Michael Komape's father, amongst others. We understand, too, that the latest unemployment statistics are tragic and pose a danger to our future stability. South Africa's unemployment rate remains tragically high at 32.9%. The expanded rate is even higher at 43.1%. Among black Africans, it is 37%, higher than the national average and other population groups.Those are the facts, so to hear Kallie Kriel being referred to on Sky News as the leader of a "civil rights movement" is a shameful rewriting of the South African script.We have, after all, all been let down by the ANC, serious mistakes have been made, crime is a huge challenge for everyone, as are the triple threats of poverty, unemployment and inequality. We don't need Trump to lecture us about any of this. What we do need is an honest rendering of our challenges and a fact-based one. (We could also wish for good faith, but that would require decency, which Trump lacks).We need to fix much in our beleaguered country, but we should do that because we understand the injustice of poverty and inequality and the effects of it on us all. We should do that because that is what our Constitution requires of us.The problem is that we cannot go to Washington and start airing our own dirty laundry, nor can we expect Trump to "fix" whatever problems we have. He cares naught for South Africa. To him, last week was just another day, another riff.So those headlines were missing the point. What happened in the Oval Office was not normal.
It is worth saying that over and over again.
Judith February is Freedom Under Law's executive officer.
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