RAMAPHOSA VISIT EXPOSES WASHINGTON'S THEA-TRICKS

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 21 May visit to the White House turned out to be nothing short of feeding into a theatrical performance to advance imperial narratives on blatantly false claims. However, we expected that.

In this commentary, African Stream’s @sannario_ provides a breakdown of the charade that ensued, in which both leaders performed embarrassingly.

While US President Donald Trump recycled debunked allegations using articles and videos that relied on unfounded claims of a ‘white g*nocide,’ Ramaphosa failed to set the record straight by dispelling the white-settler lies and asserting South Africa’s position as a sovereign state working to redress the ugly legacy of apartheid. Instead, he timidly lent credence to the spectacle by engaging with the ridiculous proceedings.

Indeed, more than 30 years after South Africa dismantled apartheid, the white-settler minority continues to hold most of the country’s wealth, and South African natives remain impoverished and marginalised. While the US dismisses South Africa's inequality and promotes the false narrative of a non-existent ‘white g*nocide,’ it supports and funds Israel’s siege on Gaza. In March, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, said ‘there [were] reasonable grounds to believe Israel is committing g*nocide.’