Cyril Ramaphosa can stop clinging to the idea that Vladimir Putin is a friend of South Africa.
A true friend shouldn't need to be begged for months not to visit your country to avoid a diplomatic embarrassment. A true friend doesn't make you feel like you're “declaring war" against him when you adhere to accepted rules. A true friend realises the sensitive blow it is for millions of people here and elsewhere on the continent to withdraw from the agreement that facilitated sustained grain and fertilizer exports via the Black Sea while the war in Ukraine rages.
Ramaphosa's office finally announced yesterday that, according to a “mutual agreement", Putin will not attend next month's Brics summit in South Africa. However, from the statements issued after Ramaphosa and Putin spoke on the phone on Saturday about the meeting, there doesn't seem to be much agreement. On Friday, Deputy President Paul Mashatile, chair of the committee appointed by Ramaphosa to handle the matter, admitted the Russians are “unhappy" that Putin must stay away: “They want him to come."
Well, now he's not coming. And the clumsy handling of the whole saga from the beginning means South Africa's relationships with the West and with Putin's Russia have taken a knock. No one has emerged as a winner. In fact, the UN warned yesterday that the end of the Black Sea agreement could lead to rising living costs and famine, especially in Africa and Asia. Russia insists the agreement can be revived only if its demands to facilitate its own food and fertilizer exports are met.
Ramaphosa also has nothing to show for his supposed peace initiatives. Gen Mark Milley, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday about the war: “I think there's a lot of fighting left to go, and I'll stay with what we said before: This is going to be long. It's going to be hard. It's going to be bloody."
♦ VWB ♦
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