The Presidency cautions South Africa against treating Democratic Alliance (DA) disinformation on matters of international relations and diplomacy as official Government policy.
The DA’s latest effort to embarrass President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Special Envoy to North America, Mr Jonas Mcebisi, involves claims – in the DA’s framing – that the United States has rejected Mr Jonas’s “credentials” and that Mr Jonas is therefore unable to perform his role as Special Envoy.
The DA seeks to add sensationalism to its claim by suggesting President Ramaphosa and Mr Jonas face a crisis in view of the United States’ pending implementation of trade tariffs announced several days ago by President Donald Trump.
The facts around this matter include the reality that Special Envoys do not present diplomatic credentials to host countries in the way designated Heads of Mission or other diplomats are.
While envoys are not required to account publicly for the work they undertake, the President’s own accounts of his performance include elements facilitated by envoys.
Mr Jonas’s outreach does not in any way supersede the leading role played by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in our difficult but constructive trade negotiations with the United States, or in our diplomatic relations with this longstanding partner.
Mr Jonas has, however, played an important role in working with the DTIC to develop the trade proposals in which South Africa is currently engaging the United States in good faith and with the expectation of mutually beneficial terms.
Similarly, he has been assisting DIRCO in Government’s efforts to reset diplomatic relations and all areas of cooperation between South Africa and the United States.
While these processes are underway and in view of President Ramaphosa’s telephonic contact with President Trump as well as his Working Visit to Washington in May 2025, President Ramaphosa has not had a need for Mr Jonas to visit the United States on urgent business.
The Presidency is therefore concerned about the Democratic Alliance’s persistent campaign against South Africa’s national interest and its posture of trying to embarrass and belittle our country and in this specific circumstance, Mr Jonas.
This campaign has its origins in a Democratic Alliance visit to the United States earlier this year, to advance an ideological agenda rather than our national interest.
The DA has positioned itself as part of a right-wing nexus that seeks to use a foreign state to effect changes to democratically developed national policies in our own country.
The DA is trying cheaply but dangerously to exploit a critical engagement between South Africa and the United States to protest President Ramaphosa’s removal of Mr Andrew Whitfield as Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.
The DA’s pronouncements and insults against countries and international organisations – such as the Republic of Cuba or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – offends South Africa’s international relations and posture.
If the DA were to succeed in undermining South Africa relations with various nations or institutions, the party will harm the viability of businesses and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of South Africans who work in sectors that depend on the expansion of our trade relations with the world.
Africa Fact: Ethiopia minted its own coins over 1,500 years ago. One scholar wrote that: “Almost no other contemporary state anywhere in the world could issue in gold, a statement of sovereignty achieved only by Rome, Persia, and the Kushan kingdom in northern India at the time.”
Africa Fact: The Ethiopian script of the 4th century AD influenced the writing script of Armenia. A Russian historian noted that: “Soon after its creation, the Ethiopic vocalised script began to influence the scripts of Armenia and Georgia. D. A. Olderogge suggested that Mesrop Mashtotz used the vocalised Ethiopic script when he invented the Armenian alphabet.”
Africa Fact: “In the first half of the first millennium CE,” says a modern scholar, Ethiopia “was ranked as one of the world’s greatest empires”. A Persian cleric of the third century AD identified it as the third most important state in the world after Persia and Rome.
Station Wmd
El Salvador: You have two cows. They are less likely to get cut open than you.
Pixie
A baby was born in South Africa. The village was very poor, and the makeshift hospital didn\’t have some necessary equipment.. such as scales.
The father however, was desperate to know the newborn baby\’s weight. After quite a bit of asking around, the hospital\’s chairman came up with an idea.
\”Five miles west, there\’s a butcher shop. The owner deals with meat, he should have a rather precise scale. You could just put your baby on the meat scale, and the weight reading you\’ll get should be pretty accurate.\”
And so the father departed westward. After much walking, with his newborn child cardled safely in his arms, he finally arrived at the butcher shop. He explained his dilemma to the shop owner, to witch the latter replied:
\”Don\’t worry, friend. It\’s not even a problem, I\’ll check it for you, free of charge.\” And so he took the child to the back, where the scale was located.
The father heard rumbling noises, and some scraping.. About a minute later the butcher came back.
\”About three pounds boneless\” He said.