In the absence of definitions, it becomes easy for society to wall itself off from the reality of what is happening. The appointment of Roelf Meyer as US Ambassador has evoked political emotions across the left-right spectrum. In the resultant discourse, one fundamental question has not been addressed: 'What is the meaning of the Roelf Meyer appointment?
Roelf Meyer, especially when he clubs or collaborates with Cyril Ramaphosa, represents a part catalyst to the possible resolution of what looks impossible to an ordinary political mind. As South Africa's ability to attract legitimacy for its policies from within the USA, especially the Make America Great Again movement, as proxied by the Trump Administration, wanes, South Africa's options to rescue the situation require the tenacity that took us through the troubled nineties.
For
RSA, as a nation, to be a well-functioning society, this will depend on
relationships of trust and reciprocity, in which all its people see their
fellow citizens as potential allies, willing to help and deserving of help when
needed. We should actively isolate among us breeds that censor nation-building
arguments, positions, and decisions merely because they fear our national unity
or disapprove its impact on their insatiable appetite for disunity.,
The
appointment of Roelf Meyer as South Africa's Ambassador to the USA is one of
the senior government appointments. He is going to be the face of South Africa
in one of the most powerful democracies in the world. In that position, he will
become an embodiment of our society's condition and diversity. He
will be the ultimate voice to articulate our national interests in the
USA.
The
brute truth is that the USA has taken the path of withdrawing the soft power it
has historically deployed to engage constructively with South Africa. In its
place, we have seen a combative, tariffs-defined, and brazen interference in
domestic policy determination, hard power. A much deeper truth is that the RSA
economy is one of the most integrated with Western systems outside Europe and
North America. It is therefore important to have a stable relationship with the
US political, economic, military, intelligence, and soft-power establishment
beyond the effervescent Trump foreign policy.
Polarised
as our society is, we must manage it to eschew it of anti-American and Cold
War-inspired dogma that is at variance with our clearly articulated and defined
national interests. Acutely dangerous are our persistent lenses, which
reinforce our prejudices about each other. Race and not reason has become a
vector of our logic to levels where those who have actively embraced
non-racialism are denying the opportunity to the historical victims of racism
to be true South Africans.
In
the context of current international relations exigencies, RSA cannot confront
the unfolding diplomatic hostilities originating in the USA without the
cooperation of its diverse people, both at home and in the diaspora. Of course,
sections of our society will often cooperate out of self-interest. But the
extent of their cooperation often depends on the attractiveness of South
Africa's value proposition as a society committed to respecting, protecting,
promoting, and fulfilling its constitutional and national interests’
obligations.
Beyond
narrow South African interests, the international gravitas that Roel Meyer
brings to the RSA Embassy in the US will be a valuable contribution by South
Africa to the post-Iran-US war polarised World. His global reach through the
Global Leadership Foundation, founded by FW de Klerk, to coordinate past heads
of state and other distinguished leaders, brings into the RSA Embassy in the US
nodes of influence.
Representing
RSA in the US, therefore, is not just a matter of ephemeral popularity; it is a
means of obtaining outcomes that are in our national interest. The RSA Embassy
is a node of influence whose geopolitical reach cannot be held hostage to RSA
pantry politics. When RSA, or rather Pretoria, downplays the importance of its
global attractiveness, our investor confidence plummets.
Save
for the Iranian War, the attention the African continent was receiving from the
White House, the US Congress, and the MAGA complex, which included sections of
South Africans in the diaspora, was becoming a geopolitical interest; only a
response with Roelf Meyer gravitas could be its antidote. What needs to be
managed the most is the stranded substrate of racial polarisation we defeated
through a human rights-driven Constitution to find expression in far lands,
especially a risky, race-relations-tense democracy like the US.
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