Contributions
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Trump’s Stage, Ramaphosa’s Test
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House this week in an attempt to reinforce bilateral ties. But instead of progress, the South African delegation walked into a tightly choreographed performance — staged for a domestic U.S. audience, not international cooperation. In the weeks leading up to the visit, Trump and his political allies intensified inflammatory rhetoric against South Africa, reviving a debunked narrative about a so-called “genocide of white farmers.” Though long discredited by South African crime data and human rights monitors, the story remains popular among Trump’s conservative base, making it a convenient tool in his political arsenal.
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Under fire: How Trump & Co. are interfering in South Africa's land rights debate
The criticism from the USA is less a matter-of-fact debate than a declaration of war; for the debate has a geopolitical dimension. South Africa, this year's host of the G20 summit, is a founding member of the BRICS community of states. The South African governing party, the ANC, has maintained close relations with Russia and China for years. South Africa has also brought a lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice for genocide in Gaza.
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Why the former archenemies could help the country move forward
South Africa already has experience with governments of national unity: the first democratically elected government in post-apartheid South Africa 30 years ago.
It was led by the African National Congress (ANC) under President Nelson Mandela and formed a coalition with the National Party (NP), which represented the interests of a right-wing conservative white population, and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which fights for the Zulu ethnic group at a political level.
Now the time has come again. -
BRICS enlargement - a "non-event" or a stage victory against the West?
The enlargement of the BRICS group at the beginning of the year to include five new member states raises questions about the political and economic consequences. What do the existing members expect from the expansion? What do the new ones expect? What does BRICS enlargement mean for the West, and what could a liberal response to this look like?
