President Cyril Ramaphosa is taking a high powered delegation on his working visit to the US
Image: GCIS
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to embark on a working visit to the United States next week with a high-powered South African delegation, where he will meet with US President Donald Trump to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest.
The visit aims to reset the two countries' strategic relationship, which has been strained.
According to a source, the high-powered team is expected to include government officials, including Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, trade specialists and representatives from the private sector.
Mcebisi Jonas, who was recently appointed special envoy to the US, is also said to be part of the delegation. Jonas is expected to play a key role in laying the groundwork for Ramaphosa's meeting with Trump.
A senior government source said that the delegation would include a representative from South Africa's agriculture sector while the American Chamber of Commerce will also be involved in background work leading to the meeting.
"Jonas is one of them, (a representative from South Africa's agriculture sector) and the American chamber," a source said.
The delegation will also include trade specialists from the department of international relations, who will represent the interests of South African companies.
"Any discussions between the two presidents will be guided by what the interested parties and the technical specialists are able to work out," the source said.
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu expressed concerns about Ramaphosa's meeting with Trump, citing the US president's tendency to make provocative statements.
"If our President doesn’t contain himself, we might see a worse situation than we saw when President Trump hosted President Zelenskyy," Mngomezulu said.
In February, Trump, JD Vance, the vice president of the United States, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, held a highly contentious bilateral meeting televised live in the Oval Office at the White House.
The meeting ended abruptly without a clear resolution when Trump and Vance repeatedly criticised Zelenskyy in what has been described as an unprecedented public confrontation between an American president and a foreign head of state.
Mngomezulu said Ramaphosa needs to be well prepared for the meeting and must stand his ground.
"The advisors of the President and the Ramaphosa himself must be prepared for any eventuality, because President Trump has a way of making sure that he ridicules his counterparts from other countries," he said.
The meeting between Ramaphosa and Trump comes amid strained diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The US in March expelled former South African ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, declaring him persona non grata for criticising Trump.
The US has also cut aid to South Africa due to accusations of land confiscations aimed at white Afrikaners and its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za