THE dramatic White House scenes between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy should provide enough reason for the South Africa government not to be bothered explaining its side of the Expropriation Act story.
Trump and his Vice President JD Vance have made it clear to the world that their administration is one led by undiplomatic bullies whose interest only matters and to hell with everyone else.
That the pair wanted to strong-arm the Ukrainian president in front of live cameras, reminding him of how ungrateful he was of the support his country has received in its war with Russia, undermines the spirit of cooperation.
It's the Trump way or the highway. This should compel South Africa to look at alternative sources of funding to plug the gap that has been left by America’s decision to withdraw its financial support to HIV/Aids related programms over unfounded claims that the Expropriation Act gave licence for land grabs.
While this decision will reverse years of progress and commendable strides made in the fight, the bullying of Zelenskyy is a warning to those coming after him that Trump’s decisions are not up for debate. Indeed he is making his America great again.
President Cyril Ramaphosa should therefore rethink his proposal of sending a team to the US to explain the purpose of the country’s policy direction.
He should save South Africa the embarrassment of being looked down on as beggars by the Trump administration, who have shown that facts don’t matter and no amount of explanation will help rescue the situation.
If Trump can punish his neighbours with tariffs as he did with Mexico and Canada, and stop aid to their staunch ally at whim, who were we as South Africa and the continent he once referred to as a sh** hole?
Next, South Africa should brace for losing its African Growth and Opportunity Act or AGOA status, which is set to be reviewed later this year.
All this because our country dares not to surrender its sovereignty to bullies. That should make us all proud.