Grandstanding is justified when it is premised on reason and achievement. President Ramaphosa’s attempt at grandstanding at the UN General Assembly on subjects like trade, debt, climate and poverty was devoid of credibility because, like the rest of the Third World member states, he is an architect of the very issues of which he complains.
If his grand Presidential Climate Commission was not a hostage to the green scam, Ramaphosa could spare South Africa from the $10 billion indebtedness to overseas bankers and organisations like the EU to “transition” to the false and unscientific world of decarbonisation.
His objection to what he calls the ‘weaponisation of trade’ is baseless because he refuses to comply with the terms and conditions the Trump Administration requires. Worse still, by further tightening the application of B-BBEE’s racist requirements, he shows contempt for the requirements of AGOA.
His assertion that “we should be fighting poverty and developing livelihoods” is appallingly egregious, given the ANC’s record in exacerbating poverty and retarding the development of livelihoods. With the highest unemployment in the world and companies like Goodyear withdrawing from South Africa, costing 900 wage earners and their dependents their livelihoods, where is Ramaphosa’s conscience?
Deeds, not words, are what make a statesman. Adding his five cents to the anti-Israel chorus does nothing to impress. By being aligned with Iran, the global banker of terrorism, Ramaphosa’s attempt at moralizing about the Palestinian issue is bereft of credibility. Besides, since 2013, the UN has passed 45 resolutions condemning Israel – to no avail. In any event, Ramaphosa is wrong in claiming that the UN seeks a peaceful existence for Palestine with Israel. Has he not worked out the implications of ‘from the river to the sea’?
Seeking African representation on the UN Security Council is a bit like having paupers sitting on the executive board of a bank. Not only are most African states heavily indebted to global financial institutions, but corruption and instability on the continent are hardly a recommendation. Between 2001 and 2017, there were 33 coups and attempted coups in Africa. Since 2020, there have been nine coups.
If the ANC had not destroyed the once invincible SA Defence Force, maybe South Africa could have prevailed to end the 35-year war between the DRC and Rwanda. Instead, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio achieved that in just weeks.
Given the failure of his presidency to lift South Africa out of the corruption of Zuma’s tenure, his diminishing stature within the ANC and the ANC’s diminishing status within the country, Ramaphosa’s harangue at the UN was not inappropriate. That is because, as ‘the theatre of the absurd,’ the UN has long been the favourite stage of political pygmies.
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