The only take-away from the televised encounter is one of great embarrassment for South Africa. Trump’s posture and body language showed that he wasn’t buying any of Ramaphosa’s copy and paste rhetoric asking for investment in the economy which his policies have destroyed.

Instead of adopting dignified postures while the video clips of Malema’s call for genocide were being screened, Ramaphosa grinned and even attempted to make conversation while one of his delegation laughed.

Seeing is believing. Now the world knows that farm murders are not fake news and that Malema’s call in front of a packed stadium for the mass killing of whites is a real threat. Ramaphosa’s failure to respond to Trump’s question why Malema has not been arrested adds to that conviction.

Hugely disappointing was John Steenhuizen’s failure to emphasise the reality of farm murders. Then, by his uncalled for expression of virtual collegiality with Ramaphosa , he threw away the golden opportunity to state crisply that rampant crime is linked to mass unemployment which is the result of job-destroying socialist, BEE policies.

While a reset of US relations with South Africa is taking place, for the ANC and DA their performance in Washington indicates that a watershed moment has arrived. For the ANC, however, like Humpty Dumpty, it is beyond salvage.

But for the DA to salvage itself, particularly after its Public Works minister MacPherson’s attempt to play down the serious threat of land expropriation at the Nampo conference, its only solution is to reinstate Tony Leon’s apt and successful ‘Fight Back’ ethos.

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