US ambassador appointed, Lamola optimistic about Trump presidency

There is an urgent need for South Africa's presence in the US. This was the sentiment of the minister of international relations and co-operation, Ronald Lamola, at a media briefing on Tuesday.

South Africa this week appointed Ebrahim Rasool as ambassador to the US. He returns to Washington DC having served in the position before.

Lamola described the appointment of Rasool by President Cyril Ramaphosa as a decision “not taken lightly”, saying Pretoria felt the need to have someone in Washington quickly post the US election. President-elect Donald Trump is a supporter of Israel, whom South Africa has taken to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on charges of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Lamola said the department wanted Rasool's credentials to be processed quickly given “there is an urgent need for South Africa's presence in the US”.

Lamola said the appointment was key to ensuring smooth trade talks with the US and to ensure the protection of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). 

“Prior to the elections I was in the US where we had various engagements with academia and congress in a bipartisan way, including the state department. We described the relationship between US and SA as dynamic and evolving,” Lamola said.

“I think the result of the election confirms that our relationship continues to be dynamic and evolving. We should continue to engage with the US at all levers to strengthen the relationship. When we left there, we left with the view that we had clarified ourselves with members of Congress that the relationship is mutually beneficial.”

Lamola anticipated challenges in US-South Africa relations but said disagreements would be resolved through engagement. 

“We will continue to engage the White House on their foreign policy, including Agoa, with the aim to continue to strengthen the bilateral relations.

“There will be challenges that will arise on a number of issues. There has never been a straightforward relationship but we think we will be able to confront and engage to find a mutually beneficial solution between the two countries, particularly on the issues of trade, Agoa and Pepfar [the US president's emergency plan for Aids relief].”

Trump's return to the White House has put a focus on US-South Africa relations as the businessman-turned-politician is a strong supporter of Israel and had promised if elected to ensure stronger ties between the Jewish state and America. This is contrary to South Africa's stance.

Lamola said South Africa would continue in its fight to have Israel charged with genocide.

Last year, South Africa applied to the ICJ for it to order a suspension of Israel's military operations in Gaza. The court granted some but not all of South Africa's requests. The country has not backed down from its application to have Israel charged with genocide as thousands of civilians have been killed in the Gaza strip.

“We have repeatedly taken our support for the state of Palestine to multilateral platforms amplifying the Palestinian struggle on the international stage,” said Lamola.

“On October 28 we submitted our memorandum to the ICJ containing evidence which shows how the government of Israel continues to violate the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza, killing them and obstructing their access to humanitarian services. Israel has continued to neglect ICJ's orders in its aim to depopulate Gaza. This demonstrates Israel's intent is to commit genocide in the Gaza strip.”

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