McEbisi Jonas 'Shunned' and Scott Bessent skip G20 meeting

The Trump administration has treated South Africa like a pariah, blacklists envoys, refuses to send the highest level officials to host meetings, and threatens to strike the country with tariffs that are likely to deepen the economic crisis.

This latest indication comes with a revelation by a second party in the Democratic Union (DA), a coalition government in South Africa, where the US government rejected President Cyril Ramaphosa's envoy, denied a diplomatic visa for him in May, refusing to recognize him as the “official interlocutor.”

Ramaphosa has created a post for McEbisi Jonas, the non-executive chairman and respected former deputy finance minister of mobile phone giant MTN, to improve rock relations between South Africa and the US.

A Ramaphosa spokesman denounced the DA with “disinformation” but did not explicitly deny the party's claims. The US State Department declined to comment when contacted by the BBC, citing “the confidentiality of visa records.”

Jonas' appointment denounced relations with the US ruthless enemy, after President Donald Trump cut off aid to South Africa and accused Ramaphosa of persecuting white people, and then brought up a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for “revitalizing” relations with Iran.

Priyalsin, a South African foreign policy expert at a think tank at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Research, told the BBC that if the DA's claims about Jonas are true, it would “give South Africa a cold shoulder” in line with the Trump administration's strategy, which would cut off the communication channels so desperately needed.

The US has not only cut bilateral ties with South Africa, but has also boycotted it with world groups like the G20. This is currently chaired by Ramaphosa, who hopes to advance the interests of developing countries in discussions with the richest states in the world.

The latest indication was US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent's decision to skip the G20 finance ministers' meeting in South Africa on Thursday, preferring to send lower officials instead.

Bescent skipped a similar meeting in February, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio left the meeting of G20 foreign ministers, saying that Ramaphosa's government was doing “very bad” and “couldn't deal with anti-Americanism.”

Ramaphosa wanted to bring relations with the US evenly back after Trump invited him to an oval office in May. The US president is ambushing him by showing footage and moving forward with his widely unreliable claim that he is pushing for a massive amount of claims against white South Africans.

Jonas was surprisingly absent from Ramaphosa's powerful delegation, giving credit to the DA's claim that he was not welcome in Washington.

This has brought South Africa back to squares in that it is “trying to project the dog whis as a whitish speech” after the US denounced Trump, and in a leaked speech given at a think tank meeting that “mobilizes supremacy.”

In a politically strange decision, Ramaphosa, despite its importance, had vacant posts. His government suggests there is a shortage of eligible career diplomats who can restructure relationships with South Africa's second-largest trading partner.

Instead, Ramaphosa fixed his hopes on a special envoy at the time of Jonas' appointment that he would “lead negotiations, promote strategic partnerships, engage with US government officials and private sector leaders, and promote the interests of our nation.”

However, considering how Ramaphosa expected Jonas to achieve this, like Rasool, he made controversial remarks about Trump, calling him a “racist” and “narcissistic right-wing” in a 2020 speech that plagued him after his appointment.

This was exacerbated by the fact that MTN had a 49% stake in Iranian telecom company Irancell, a major concern for the US.

Compared to its previous stance, South Africa was “more cautious” — as Singh said — in June's response to the US airstrikes against Iran, he simply saw a conflict with “great anxiety” and said he hoped it could be resolved through dialogue.

W Gyude Moore, a policy analyst at the US-based Centre for Global Development, told the BBC it was no surprise that South Africa is on Trump's shooting line.

He pointed out that South Africa defended what Trump's support base deemed a “wake culture.” Ramaphosa, for example, saw the G20 as a forum promoting international “solidarity, equality and sustainability” that Rubio opposed and opposed “diversity, equity, inclusion” and on par with climate change.

Moore said this also lashes out on the Trump administration's attitude towards South Africa's “black empowerment” policy, condemning “racial-based discrimination” against white people. The Ramaphosa government believes it is necessary to address the legacy of the apartheid racist system.

“I don't know how the differences can be resolved. South Africa just has to continue and strengthen its ties with other countries. It's not the only thing in the Trump administration's crosshair,” added Moore.

But that's a major blow for South Africa as they maintained a major trade and aid relationship and a fierce relationship with the Republican and the Democratic administration.

Singh pointed out that South Africa, for example, opposed Republican George W. Bush's war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but South Africa benefited from Pepfer, a program established by the Trump administration to tackle HIV/AIDS until it cut funds earlier this year.

“The Trump administration is completely different and everyone is off guard. South Africa is just trying to survive the storm and reduce the damage,” Singh said.

But the economic impact can be devastating – especially if Trump has been imposeting a 30% tariff on South African goods since August 1st, which he threatened to do so.

South Africa's central bank Chieflesejja Kuganyago said tariffs could lead to around 100,000 unemployment.

Tariffs will hit South Africa's agricultural sector hard. This is ironic. This is because Trump portrays himself as the country's African farmer champion, offering refugee status in the United States.

It also gives them the opportunity to farm the United States and boost the economy in line with Trump's “America First” policy.