President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to use his upcoming visit to the United States to press for the removal of trade tariffs on South African exports and to confront recent diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
Speaking after his keynote address at the ANC’s provincial executive committee induction in Kimberley on Friday, Ramaphosa said discussions with US officials would be conducted in a “businesslike manner”, focusing on advancing South Africa’s national interests.
“We’ve got a number of issues to discuss – trade issues, diplomatic issues, and relationship issues,” he said. “We are not going to be distracted by anything. We will focus on what is important for our country.”
Ramaphosa’s visit to the US is expected to take place from Sunday 19 to Wednesday 22 May, according to the presidency. It will mark one of the most diplomatically sensitive trips of his presidency, as Pretoria seeks to defend its international standing while protecting crucial trade relationships in a fraught geopolitical climate.
Central to the president’s agenda is the US’s continued imposition of trade tariffs on South African goods, particularly vehicles and agricultural products. Although some of the tariffs have been deferred, Ramaphosa said the matter requires urgent resolution.
“They have imposed tariffs on us even though they’ve postponed them. We need to deal with that. Our vehicles go there. Our vegetables and our agricultural products go there,” he said. “They are our trading partner. Whether we like it or not, we are joined at the hip, and we need to be talking to them.”
Ramaphosa said the team was heading to the US with the increasingly complex nature of South Africa’s bilateral relationship with the US in mind, adding it was important to maintain dialogue even where there are differences.
“You don’t talk only to your friends. You also negotiate with those you may have differences with,” he said.
The president is also expected to address international criticism of South Africa’s domestic human rights record, particularly allegations of state-sanctioned violence against minority groups, including Afrikaners who have accepted refugee status from the US.
Forty-nine Afrikaners have already settled in the US, arguing that they were being targeted and felt unsafe in South Africa because of their race.
Ramaphosa dismissed the claims as false and harmful.
“There’s been noise about South Africa committing a genocide. But we all know, as South Africans – black and white – that there is no genocide here. We are not genocidal,” he said.
He insisted that South Africa remains committed to constitutional values, including nonracialism and equality before the law. “We are a peace-loving country. We are committed to transformation and to ensuring that all our people have a better life – black, white, all South Africans,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the country’s message in Washington would be “strong and robust”, and aimed at countering what he described as misinformation. “The false stories that have been bandied around are not a reflection of who we are,” he said.
The visit comes at a time when domestic governance issues have also resurfaced, including the recent nullification of several public board SETA appointments. Ramaphosa described the matter as a result of administrative errors, saying the relevant minister was “trying to correct” the issue.
“We should also be grateful that we have a government that listens, even when it has made mistakes,” he said. “The important thing is to listen and to correct.”
Asked about the country’s rising unemployment rate – a figure that increased to 32.9% this week from 31.9% last year, according to Statistics South Africa – Ramaphosa said job creation remained the government’s top priority.
“I am continuously worried about the state of unemployment. We are taking all steps to grow our economy,” he said. “We need to unleash the levers of our economy and attend to the constraints that are keeping growth down. We want young people and even those older than 35 to be employed.”
He said both public employment initiatives and the easing of private sector constraints would be key to addressing the crisis.
Ramaphosa also confirmed that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is finalising the third national budget, which is due to be tabled on Tuesday 21 May, and which will also provide solutions to the unemployment concerns.
“The budget is almost ready. The minister of finance is putting the final touches to it,” he said.
