let's now welcome Mr Tim beis fago who's a senior research fellow at Africa Asia dialogues to also weigh in on the expulsion of South Africa's ambassador to the United States of America Ibrahim rasul Tamba it's always great to have you with us thank you so much for your time I'm sure you heard of course the political reactions in the country uh in relation to this expulsion but let's first look at all the developments that led to this point do you then believe that this expulsion could lead to a more significant break in the sa us
relationship or do you think this is just a temporary setback I think this is the another step towards a a a total collapse of relationships or formal relationship between South Africa and and the US um and I think what has happened over the past couple of days with South Africa seen A View to be agitating towards Europe to an extent uh impacted this very rush and Swift decision on the expulsion of Ambassador ibraim rasul if you remember um sou Africa announced even though the plans were a foot long before but announced and confirmed the visit
of Alo zilinski to South Africa that was couple of hours after that uh a tongue lashing episode within or inside inside the um the the White House and V zalinski went to London and went to Brussels on the um Summit that supported Ukraine and all of those were embarrassing to Donald Trump who fell to that not withstanding V zilinski was still accepted by Europeans then you had South Africa announcing that he was coming to South Africa and confirming the date not long ago we had um us lion the president of European Union coming to South
Africa and making those pledges of 4.3 to 4.5 billion euros of investment into South Africa so this was to me um two very important steps that led to a to an extent uh irritation to Donald Trump and his cabinet that not withstanding South Africa seemed to be moving towards Europe and they really don't necessarily care about what America thinks and and and and again one thing that I forgot to mention was that the um security advisor of the president of s mapa Mr Sadi when asked whether SFA was still going to continue sending an Envoy
to the United States he said that it doesn't see a reason sou afria can speak to Donald Trump from ptor that to me again was another um statement that to an extent did irritate Donald Trump but I mean let's look at the reactions here right uh Tim bisa 50% are saying that us must not be coddled uh they must just be told exactly uh what South Africa thinks about some of the actions towards us as an independent state while 50% says let's continue and try going the Diplomatic engagement look look I just want us to
uh to out this debacle in clear uh perspective okay diplomacy or not South Africa has not been on the offensive of this quma and have consistently maintained that they were willing to engage through these diplomatic channels and Frameworks in order to discuss or address the tensions that uh truthfully speaking South Africa when was not the instigator yet they must tone themselves down with a government that is clearly not interested in salvaging this relationship well I think we have not exhausted all diplomatic efforts yet so sou Africa must continue with its diplomatic efforts um and until
then I don't see a reason why we should not send that Envoy that was touted ear on uh to go and address and speak to Donald Trump and try and explain our position but importantly at the same time we also need to to uh be quite tough and when I say we I mean the sou African government must be quite tough in terms of these uh Sid shows that continue to disturb the diplomatic relations with United States organizations such as the solidate and um the Afra forum and later of course the da to continue going
to United States speaking to lawmakers um undermines The Sovereign government and it weakens our position in terms of trying to fix this current problem so until president sua takes a much more tougher stand outside rhetoric we are going to continue having these organizations going and speaking on behalf of sou Africans whilst they continue messing up possibilities and relations between ourselves and United States so that there must be multi- uh layered approaches in this uh having said that I still do believe and insist that the Diplomatic efforts have not been exhausted and we should continue with
those until uh a time comes when we will all Resort into a position where we will stop negotiating no speaking to United States but then Tempa we don't have a US ambassador why is this and also how does this even then further the current impass and also I just want to know what the next process since Ambassador has also been expelled from the United States what happens to their Embassy here and ours there will it just be uh you know just a matter of issuing visas then at this particular stage well I think it's deliberate
from Donald Trump and Elon Musk side to maintain in SAR without an ambassador because that facilitate and encourages a civil society ambass embassies um line of communication and discussions uh they don't want to have a formal representation they want to continue sourcing information from the Civil Society in this case after for in solidar toate including the da uh which sometimes ex as if they're not part and parcel of this problem so this is deliberate and I think again what they did in the United States is also deliberate if you don't have ambassadors um uh in
both embassies you open up a situation where um every person organization or any other formation that have access to lawmakers and diplomates and politicians in the states and in South Africa can continue talking and from there they can gather intelligence and um information they need to make certain decisions um so that's probably why you have this situation of um having both ambassadors at least from a couple hours ago now you're going to have bras coming back to S if that does go ahead um you're going to have both ambassadors not having head of missions and
that will create a chaos uh in in both embassies M and just to be clear also Tim I mean the fact that the voices have been consistently raising the fact that this particular Administration in the United States will not be in power indefinitely so is there room then for reconciliation in the near future you think and what would have been the cost of the relations between the two countries though well I think that's what South Africans uh dangerously are betting on President SOS is betting on the ten of Donald Trump but I think a lot
of damage could be affected during this time whatever months and years are left for Donald Trump and that could lead to an irreparable damage between ourselves and United States and by the way we don't even know who's going to come after Donald Trump and what sort of politics they will um they will hold so we need to I think continue with our diplomatic efforts we need to make sure that we maintain the economic relations uh between ourselves and the United States but I think what is even more tempting for South Africa is are the advances
from the European Union who are also facing their own uh challenges with Donald Trump and I think South Africa has been identified as that country that the European Union can begin strengthening relationships and trade and economic ties uh in the absence of Donald Trump because Donald Trump is certainly withdrawing from International participation and um markets including European markets are looking for new opportunities and South Africa I think has identified that opportunity and is going to make itself available uh to all the charm offensives that will be coming from various countries particularly from Europe inadvertently teaming
up against this common enemy so to speak Tima thank you so much for your input uh this afternoon that is Mr Tima senior research fellow at afre seed weighing in on the latest developments in the US and save relations
