President Cyril Ramaphosa has been accused of failing to defend the constitutional ruling that declared the controversial “kill the Boer, kill the farmer” political chant to be legal when the issue was raised by his US counterpart Donald Trump last week.
EFF treasurer-general Omphile Maotwe took the president to task, saying he did not take the opportunity to challenge Trump when he raised the matter at the White House last week. The EFF leader argued in parliament that Ramaphosa did not defend the constitutional ruling on the matter.
She compared him to former president Thabo Mbeki, saying that Ramaphosa fell short and should be embarrassed that when given the same platform, Mbeki rose to the occasion.
Mbeki, in a recent interview, defended the chant as a struggle song not meant to be taken literally.
The chant, which originated during the apartheid era as a liberation song, resurfaced with the EFF singing it at their rallies. The song has sparked a controversy with white Afrikaner groups interpreting it as promoting violence against them.
Maotwe said: “There’s no uMkhonto we Sizwe soldier who went and killed a farmer. It’s a chant to motivate people. It was never taken literally. Even during the course of the struggle, it was not literal. It’s an exaggeration to take this as an instruction to go and kill. The people who are exaggerating know that they are exaggerating because they are trying to achieve some political purpose.”
During Ramaphosa's working visit to the Oval Office last week, Trump called for EFF leader Julius Malema's arrest, saying the song incited violence.
Trump played a video of Malema singing the song and presented articles on farm murders to support his narrative that white farmers are being persecuted in South Africa.
Instead, in his oral reply in parliament, Ramaphosa defended his recent trip to the US, saying he had objectives to fulfil.
“We believe that we have reset relations despite what could have been seen on television. We were able to have a much more meaningful meeting and discussion with President Trump and his representations in the quiet room where we had lunch together.”
He says his main concern was to save the diplomatic and economic relations between Pretoria and Washington.
“The issue of relations between South Africa and the United States was an issue that occupied the minds of many people in our country. Many were concerned about the deteriorating relationship between our two countries, having recognised the important roles we play in each other’s economies apart from various political and diplomatic relations.”
Ramaphosa said his government realised that the impact the country’s economy would be adverse unless they were able to repair or reset the relationship between the two countries.
“To this end, we had a telephonic conversation with President Trump where we agreed that we should meet. We travelled to the US with the delegation and had three objectives. The first was to reset the relationship between two trading partners that have had dealings over many years where we invest in each other economies.
“The US has some 600 companies invested here and we similarly have a number of companies that have invested in the US. A number of our jobs in sectors that would be adversely affected if the relations were not straightened out, such as agriculture, the automotive sector, the steel and aluminium sector as well as the mining sector, where we sell critical minerals to the US,” Ramaphosa said.
This, alongside tariffs and the coveted G20 conference, motivated Ramaphosa and his delegation to reset relations between Pretoria and Washington despite criticism over the events in the Oval Office.
The third objective was to discuss the G20 summit and highlight the important role played by a country like the US, the largest economy in the world.
“We are deeply immersed in matters and activities of the G20, which we have the responsibility of leading. It is important for the US to engage in the G20 process and ultimately entice the leader of the US to come to the leaders' summit at the end of the year.
“Broadly, those were our objectives. We do believe that we achieved those objectives. The engagement with the American government has started. Soon after we left Washington, discussions started happening in relation to tariffs, investments,” he said.
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