South Africa

Trump Expelling South Africa from G20 Is US Strategic Error

Lawrence , , , , , , , , ,

December 19, 2025

The decision by U.S. President, Donald Trump, to exclude South Africa from the G20, during the U.S. Presidency, is an afront to the entire G20, Africa, and all nations of  the Global South, which are the majority of the world. The U.S. is now the President of the G20 from December 1, 2025, until the G20 Leaders’ Summit in December 2026. For this one year period, South Africa will suffer no harm while waiting for its participation in the G20 to be restored in 2027 when Great Britain will become the President of the G20. However, the same cannot be said for the U.S., which will experience a decline in esteem among nations throughout the world. It is still not too late for Trump to reverse his dreadful decision and function as an American Statesman in the footsteps of Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Kennedy; the latter two were loved by Africans.

Trump Violates the G20

The first official act of the United States’ Presidency of the G20 was on December 15, 2025, with the meeting of the G20 Sherpas and Finance Officers. However, unlike every other orderly transition for the last twenty-five years to a new Presidency of the G20, South Africa, a founding member of the G20 was excluded by President Donal Trump. The motivation for this egregious, unprecedented action by President Trump is his distorted geopolitical view of the world. There are no mechanisms in the G20 that allow the exclusion or addition of new member nations by a single nation. Such a decision can only be made by the consensus of the entire group of G20 nations.

 According to the G20 South Africa website, the G20 was founded in 1999 as a response to the Asian financial crisis of 1997– 1998, as an informal forum for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the most important industrialized and developing economies to discuss international economic and financial stability. The G20 was upgraded to the level of Heads of State/Government in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis of 2007, and in 2009, when it became apparent that the necessary crisis coordination would only be possible at the highest political level.

The role of the G20 is to create the foundation for global economic stability, a vital catalyst for economic development…

Courtesy of t20southafrica.org

G20 is composed of nineteen nations, reputed to be the wealthiest, representing around 85% of the global Gross Domestic Product, over 75% of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population, plus the European Union and African Union, a recent member.

Some U.S. officials have questioned South Africa’s right to be a member of the G20 since it is not one of twenty the wealthiest nations. As the most industrialized nation in Africa, and a leader politically and morally on the continent, South Africa’s membership is more than justified. With Africa projected to have one fourth of the world’s population by 2050, it would be strategic folly to not include South Africa in the G20.

Lies About South Africa

U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in his article, America Welcomes a New G20 statedept.substack.com, exposes the outright venal lying attitude of the current U.S. presidency against the government of South Africa.

Rubio writes:

President Trump has rightly highlighted, the South African government’s appetite for racism and tolerance for violence against its Afrikaner citizens have become embedded as core domestic policies. It seems intent on enriching itself while the country’s economy limps along, all while South Africans are subject to violence, discrimination, and land confiscation without compensation. 

Courtesy You Tube WION

Rubio perpetuates two lies.

One, anyone familiar with South Africa knows that the government does not have embedded policies of violence against Afrikaners. Two, land is not confiscated without compensation.

Rubio is not willing to stretch his lies as far as his boss, President Trump, who on multiple occasions has accused the South African government of practicing genocide against  “white” Afrikaners. There have been accusations that white farmers have been killed and their land confiscated. No evidence has been provided to support such a claim. South African “whites” are in large part represented by the Democratic Alliance, a member of South Africa’s coalition government, who unequivocally deny Trump’s accusations of genocide. Additionally, leading Afrikaner groups have insisted that there is no genocide against Afrikaners in South Africa. Contrary to Trump encouraging “white” South Africans to emigrate to the U.S., leading Afrikaners have implored them to stay and participate in the development of South Africa, which they rightly consider their nation.

Rubio disingenuously whines that South Africa blocked the U.S. and other countries’ inputs into negotiations. It actively ignored our reasonable faith efforts to negotiate.

For these reasons, President Trump and the United States will not be extending an invitation to the South African government to participate in the G20 during our presidency.

This is the height of hypocrisy. It was Trump who refused to have an official U.S. representative at the G20 in Pretoria. In reality, as a result of Trump’s boycott of the G20 Summit, there was no one from the U.S. to negotiate with.

South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, speakng at the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa

In his Response to Secretary Rubio, South African Minister Ronald Lamola, emphasized that,

South Africa is a founding member of the G20, no single member of the G20 has a unilateral right to exclude South Africa from the G20…South Africa’s Presidency was built on a simple, powerful belief: that treating Africa and the Global South as equal partners and honestly addressing the systemic macroeconomic issues that impede their growth, is not an act of charity, but a strategic imperative for a stable, prosperous world.

It is a matter of public record that the United States chose not to attend our G20 meetings. Given that absence, the notion of our “sabotaging” consensus is not just incorrect, it misunderstands the very purpose of a forum like the G20. Our role as host was not to force agreement, but to create the conditions for it: a table of equals, governed by the spirit of Ubuntu. That spirit, “I am because we are”, is not a slogan. It is the philosophy that steered our nation away from the precipice of bloodshed and towards reconciliation. (emphasis added)

Admittedly, South Africa has serious challenges with its economy and has one of the highest crime rates in the world. However, it is abundantly clear that Trump’s groundless attacks on South Africa will not contribute to South Africa’s progress. More portentously, they are not intended to help South Africa.

Trump Falsely Attack South Africa

On February 7th, 2025, less than three weeks after Trump assumed the presidency of the United States, he launched his campaign against the nation of South Africa. In his Executive Order, Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa, Trump asserted that South Africa was undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests. 

It is the policy of the United States that, as long as South Africa continues these unjust and immoral practices that harm our Nation:
          (a)  the United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa; and
          (b)  the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.

He then proceeded to cut off $400 million in funds for South Africa in its fight against the AIDS virus, which kills more South Africans than any other population.

President Trump spread lies about genocide in South Africa. Courtesy You Tube Al Jazeera

Earlier this year, Trump started spreading the slander that South Africa is practicing genocide against white farmers in particular. It is reported that Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, first propagated this falsehood to Trump, who continued to spread this lie even after his breakup with Musk several months later.

To this day, absolutely no evidence has been provided to support this accusation of genocide. The Democratic Alliance, which represents many of the white farmers in South Africa has rejected Trump’s claim as nonsense.Trump preceded, without regard for the truth, to confront President Cyril Ramaphosa when he visited the White House in May of this year, displaying pictures of graves Trump alleged to be white South African farmers. In reality, these photos were actually graves from another African nation. Statistics of deaths in South Africa indicate that more black farmers have been killed than white farmers. Read: Trump’s Attacks on South Africa Are Wrong and Not in the True Interest of the USA

Trump’s Failed Presidency

Trump won both his first and second campaigns to become president as an outsider, not anointed by the Eastern Liberal Establishment. This was a positive feature of his presidency for which he was ruthlessly and unfairly victimized in his first term. Due to the harsh treatment he received in his first term as president, one could understand his lack of accomplishments in foreign and domestic policy. However, instead of making him stronger and more thoughtful, he has allowed his rage and thirst for revenge, among other weaknesses, to have thus far produced a failed presidency when it comes to Africa and the Global South. His inability to rise above the fray and articulate a vision for America that is coherent with a Grand Design for the world, (think Franklin Roosevelt) to promote global economic development, has shown to be a devastating defect in his character. Combined with his lack of an in-depth understanding of the principles of the American System of Political Economy, (think Alexander Hamilton) upon which America was founded, Trump has not succeeded in advancing a true American policy for home and abroad.

Despite his accurate criticisms of the “transatlantic elites” for imposing their ideology on the world, and his efforts to establish a more positive relationship with Presidents Putin and Xi, Trump is still a psychological prisoner of the West’s “rules-based international order.”  Thus far, he has not succeeded in freeing his mind from the “zero-sum” mentality that dominates the “rules-based order.” Unfortunately for the U.S. and the world, Trump’s thinking is contaminated with this perverted world view.

Is Trump’s exclusion of South Africa from the G20 yet another attempt to weaken African nations and prevent them from assuming leadership positions in global institutions? It appears that under Trump, African nations will be reduced to cogs in the supply chain of rare earth minerals for the U.S. Trump’s marginalization of Africa is on display in his new National Security Strategy, which allots three paragraphs to Africa, despite the reality that Africa will be at the center of commerce in the next twenty-five years, with its burgeoning population markets. Read: Trump Security Doctrine Rightly Criticizes ‘Trans-Atlantic Elites’-But Strategically Flawed. Fails to Prioritize Africa

BRICS and Global South growing. Courtesy of en.wikepedia.org

Why South Africa

I will repeat here what I wrote earlier this year, because of its accuracy.

Let me be bluntly honest: I know that the nation of South Africa is no security threat to United States or our allies. The real crime, if you will, committed by the government of South Africa, is not to bow to the will of the United States and the so called rules-based international order.

Specifically, South Africa has provided international, moral, political, and economic leadership in the following spheres of its foreign policy:

  • South Africa’s courageous leadership in bringing before the International Court of Justice, the charge of Israeli genocide against Palestinians living in Gaza, which is specifically cited in the Executive Order: “South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice.”
  • South Africa’s membership as the first African nation to join the BRICS, which is emerging with its nineteen members and partners, as an institution of growing influence and leadership of the new dynamic of the Global South. President Trump falsely views the BRICS as an enemy of the U.S., having twice said he will destroy the BRICS with a “100 percent tariff” and on February 14, declared that the BRICS is dead.
  • South Africa is a strong ally of China on the continent, and as a member of the BRICS has a close relationship to Russia. Iran, another target of the rules-based order is also a member of the BRICS. There are many “China-hawks” in President Trump’s cabinet and among his close allies, who following in the footsteps of Presidents Obama and Biden, erroneously assert that China is the number one enemy of the U.S. However, South Africa’s relations with member nations of the BRICS can be an advantage for U.S. policy.

Before the final G20 Heads of State Summit in December 2026, when the presidency is transferred to Great Britain, Trump still has the opportunity to amend his arbitrary exclusion of South Africa. For Trump not to repair its relationship with South Africa, would be a critical strategic error on the part of the U.S., further undermining its leadership in the world.

Read below my earlier posts on this topic:

Trump’s Attacks on South Africa Are Wrong and Not in the True Interest of the USA

U.S. Attacks South Africa For Its Moral Leadership & China Alliance

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Why Nuclear Power and Why Now For Africa?

Lawrence , , , , , , ,
Africa’s only nuclear powerplant in Koeberg South Africa. (Courtesy cbn.co.za)

March 30, 2025

Below is an important article on nuclear power for Africa by a colleague of mine .

Published in Nuclear Network Africa, South Africa, March 25.

Yes, Nuclear for Small Countries in Africa!

By David Cherry

Africa is now on a path toward industrialization. There can be no sovereignty without the national power that comes from industrialization, and that’s where nuclear power comes in. It is no accident that the first five BRICS nations all have nuclear power plants—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. It is no accident that the other five full BRICS members either have nuclear power (Iran, UAE), or are building their first plant (Egypt), or have concrete plans for nuclear power (Ethiopia, Indonesia).

Only yesterday it was unthinkable that nuclear power could be available to most African nations. But today, nuclear power is no longer the privilege of the industrialized countries. Technological apartheid has been largely defeated.

The up-front expense of a nuclear power plant is still a consideration, however. Doesn’t this expense restrict nuclear to African nations with relatively large budgets? On the continent today, only South Africa has a functioning nuclear power plant. Egypt’s large plant—comprising four reactors, each producing 1200 megawatts of electricity (1200 MWe)—is now under construction.

And the other countries? Small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors give most small African countries the nuclear option. Because these reactors are small and their major components can be produced on an assembly line, their price is within reach of most countries. With these small reactors, the revenue from the first installed reactor can help pay the cost of adding more units on the same site.

There are about 80 SMRs designed or being designed worldwide. Russia and China have SMRs in operation. South Africa’s HTMR-100 is fully designed and ready to be built.

A reactor that produces 20 to 300 MWe is called a small modular reactor (SMR) and one under 20 MWe is a microreactor. Nuclear reactors produce a significant amount of heat that can also be used, but SMRs and microreactors are defined in terms of their electric output. In Japan, Toshiba has its 4S model that will produce 10 MWe, while in the U.S. the TVA model is designed for 15 MWe. There are even smaller ones. The South African HTMR-100 will put out 35 MWe. Other sizes include Russia’s RITM-200 at 55 Mwe, now operating; and in China, two SMRs are now operating: the ACP100 producing 125 MWe, and the HTR-PM, 210 MWe.

Different designs are suitable for different conditions. Some use water to keep the reactor sufficiently cool and must therefore be near a large water body. Designs that use circulating helium for cooling can be placed inland.

But the cost of the reactor itself is not the only problem. No power plant can function if the electricity network lacks the capacity to deliver the electricity to users. Another problem is having enough trained technicians for plant operation. For both problems, the SMR provides relief. The first SMR will not need a large staff, and it can grow as more reactors are added. As for transmission capacity, the first SMR may not require much upgrade of the network.

Why Nuclear and Why Now?

For now, many African governments will expand their use of coal and hydro-power and possibly add natural gas, because even small reactors are not mail-order items that will arrive next week. But now is the time to start along the path to nuclear because of its longer lead time. These other sources will still be important in the energy mix long after nuclear is first up and running.

But why, then, is nuclear necessary? Nuclear is the energy source of the future because uranium and thorium are vastly more energy dense than any conventional source, especially solar and wind. For example, a kilogram of uranium-235 contains two or three million times the energy of a kilogram of coal or oil. (Imagine avoiding the cost of the constant flow of coal-laden trucks from mine to power plant. Nuclear fuel lasting years may weigh only a few kilograms.) Not only that. A nuclear power plant does not have a large footprint compared to any other power plant of equivalent output. These two factors together are the “energy-flux density” of the given combination of fuel and technology. Higher energy-flux density indicates greater efficiency and lower cost per megawatt.

Africa is now on a path toward industrialization. There can be no sovereignty without the national power that comes from industrialization, and that’s where nuclear power comes in. It is no accident that the first five BRICS nations all have nuclear power plants—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. It is no accident that the other five full BRICS members either have nuclear power (Iran, UAE), or are building their first plant (Egypt), or have concrete plans for nuclear power (Ethiopia, Indonesia).

David Cherry is an editorial staff member of the Executive Intelligence Review in Washington, D.C., and was formerly of 21st Century Science & Technology magazine and the International Journal of Fusion Energy.

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World

Trump’s Attacks on South Africa Are Wrong and Not in the True Interest of the USA

Lawrence , , , , , , , , ,
President Trump tells Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to skip G-20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (courtesy of centralnews.co.za)

February 25, 2025.

With forbearance I have followed the early days of our new president, Donald Trump. His actions to end the war in Ukraine are commendable. However, I  am now compelled to speak out against his unjustified attacks on South Africa and cutting off of aid to this important nation on the African continent. In this article I will address President Trump’s wrongheaded policy against South Africa.

Contrary to his claims of uprooting Washington’s establishment and draining the swamp, President Trump, appears to have become influenced  by followers of the so called rules-based international order when it comes to America’s foreign policy to Africa. Thus far, it appears that President Trump has not fully extricated himself from the “zero-sum” mindset that has dominated Washington’s ideology for decades. What is desperately needed now is the qualities of statesmanship, displayed  in the previous century by Presidents John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt. The true self interests of the United States lie in making the “World Great.”  President Roosevelt envisioned in his Grand Design, a better world after World War II, in which the U.S. would play a leadership role. He created the original International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which he intended to be a vehicle for lending capital to developing nations in Africa in particular. This bank, commonly known today as the World Bank, has failed to implement President Roosevelt’s original intention.

U.S. Targets South Africa

President Trump under the influence of Elon Musk, the cost-cutter in chief, has issued an Executive Order, Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa in response to alleged land expropriations in South Africa.

President Trump issued this Executive Order on February 7, which states that the United States shall halt foreign aid or assistance delivered or provided to South Africa, because South Africa is undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests.

Let me be bluntly honest: I know that the nation of South Africa is no security threat to United States or our allies. The real crime, if you will, committed by the government of South Africa, is not to bow to the will of the United States and the so called rules based international order.

Naledi Pandor, then Prime Mister of South Africa, at the International Court of Justice (courtesy of dawnmena.org)

Specifically, South Africa has provided international, moral, political, and economic leadership in the following spheres of its foreign policy:

  1. South Africa’s courageous leadership in bringing before the International Court of Justice, the charge of Israeli genocide against Palestinians living in Gaza, which is specifically cited in the Executive Order: South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice.
  • South Africa’s membership as the first African nation to join the BRICS, which is emerging with its twenty-two members and partners, as an institution of growing influence and leadership of the new dynamic of the Global South. President Trump falsely views the BRICS as an enemy of the U.S., having twice said he will destroy the BRICS with a “100 percent tariff” and on February 14, declared that the BRICS is dead.
  • South Africa is a strong ally of China on the continent, and as a member of the BRICS has a close relationship to Russia. Iran, another target of the rules-based order is also a member of the BRICS. There are many “China-hawks” in President Trump’s cabinet and among close allies, who following in the footsteps of Presidents Obama and Biden, erroneously assert that China is the number one enemy of the U.S. However, South Africa’s relations with member nations of the BRICS can be an advantage for U.S. policy.

President Trump’s actions are echoed by threats against South Africa from the new U.S. Congress.

Four Republican Congressmen wrote in a letter to President Trump: …we urge you to revoke South Africa’s preference benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA]…We would also suggest that you consider suspending diplomatic ties unless the government [South Africa] is prepared to engage constructively with your own.” (Reported by CNBC Africa.)

AGOA is a is a long standing trade arrangement to boost exports from emerging economies to the U.S. that has been turned into  a political weapon. President Biden immorally removed Ethiopia from AGOA, and now Trump is being lobbied to imitate his predecessor by perpetrating the same actions against South Africa. This is a dangerously misguided policy that is harmful to the people of South Africa and the United States. South Africa receives $440 million in aid, of which $250 million is allocated for PEPFAR to contain the spread of HIV-AIDS in Africa. This aid has now been cut off. The U.S. is also the second largest trading partner with South Africa, after China.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has deliberately snubbed the G-20 Summit of Foreign Ministers, meeting in Johannesburg. This is especially troubling given that South Africa is the current president of the G-20, which is meeting on the African continent for the very first time.

 Land Expropriation Smoke Screen

There is no ongoing campaign for mass expropriation of land belonging to white South African farmers. Full stop! As reported by EIR News, John Steenhusien, parliamentary leader of the white-led Democratic Alliance, a coalition party of the government, said on February 8: There is no land being expropriated on a mass scale from anybody in South Africa without compensation. Trump’s Executive Order also states: the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation. Steenhusien, Minister of Agriculture, in the coalition government, opposes efforts to encourage white farmers to leave South Africa; their homeland. This sentiment is echoed by other Afrikaner organizations that do not want white farmers to emigrate.

On February 11, Helen Zille Chairwoman, of the Democratic Alliance said: He [Trump] was wrong to say land is currently being expropriated.

The Expropriation Act of 2024 is to develop land underutilized. According to a recent report, Assessing key aspects of the new Expropriation Act, land can be expropriated for only two purposes:

1) For a public purpose. The property concerned will be used by or for the benefit of the public. Examples would be when land is required for building a dam, a road, or a public nature reserve.

2) That it is in the public interest. The public interest includes the nation’s commitment to land reform and to reforms to bring about equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources. To redress the results of past racial discriminatory laws or practices.

According to the act, compensation would be paid except in the rarest of cases such as: Where the land is not being used, and the owner’s main purpose is not to develop the land or use it to generate income but to benefit from appreciation of the market value. In other words, speculation.

 Map of Cecil Rhodes’ vision of British dominion from the Cape to Cairo (courtesy of reserchgate.net) . Cecil John Rhodes was an English mining magnate, who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.

Who Is Fooling Whom?

While white South African landowners and their supporters in the U.S. get all worked-up over the Expropriation Act, their complaints are ahistorical. They willfully ignore the history of South Africa, choosing to conveniently overlook what was done to  black South Africans in the 19th and 20th centuries under British Imperialism, epitomized by that racist pig, Cecil Rhodes. From 1913 on, land was “legally” taken without compensation from black South Africans, who under apartheid were forbidden to own land. BBC World News writes: The Natives’ Land Act of 1913 defined less than one-tenth of South Africa as Black “reserves” and prohibited any purchase of land by Blacks outside the reserves.

Think! How is it possible that 4.5 million white South Africans, approximately 7% of the population, own over 70% of farms owned by individual farmers, while Colors, Blacks and Indians own 24% of the farms. Are white South Africans superior to non-white South Africans?

Newsweek reports in their Feb 14 article on South Africa, that according to a 2017 state audit, white land owners controlled 72% of agricultural land, while black land owners only hold 4%. The disparity is extremely stark considering black people make up 80% of the country’s population whereas white people account for around 8%. Newsweek also refutes the allegation that government is facilitating mass murders of white farmers. They report the rate of murder among people involved in farming activities in 2015-16 to be 5.6 murders per 100,000, significantly lower than the country’s general murder rate of 33.9 murders per 100,000.

In the same article they write that an ‘expropriating authority may not expropriate…arbitrarily or for a purpose other than public purpose or in the public interest.’ It also states that land cannot be expropriated without compensation if it is currently being used. This means residential property, commercial property, farms, and mines are exempt from expropriation without compensation.

Contrary to fake news and claims by white South African farmers and their sympathizers, there is no mass murder of white farmers, or mass expropriation of their land, organized by the government.

President Trump speaks vaguely of white farmers being treated poorly in South Africa, without providing any evidence.

Malema-Musk Genocide Shell Game.

The allegation of genocide against white South African farmers supported by the South African government is highly inflammatory and is completely untrue. No evidence has been provided to substantiate this outrageous claim.

The accusation of genocide is dangerous, since it has been used in other nations for attempting regime change of elected governments.

The United Nations defines genocide as the intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Given the extensive networks that Afrikaners have in the U.S. including the Congress and Executive Branch, if there was an actual campaign to kill millions of South African whites, it would be well publicized.

Instead of any proof of genocide, we have the Malema-Musk side show, manipulating public opinion to create a discord between the governments of South Africa and the U.S.

Elon Musk, one of President Trump’s closest advisors, wrote in his July 2023 Twitter: They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa. Musk tweeted to President Cyril Ramaphosa: why do you say nothing?

The “they” he is referring to is the movement of Julius Malema, who provocatively chants, “Kill the Farmer, Kill the Boer.” The Boers were the early settlers from Europe (not Britain) to South Africa. Today, the term is used as a euphemism for all white farmers.

Julius Malema is the black South African leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters. Elon Musk is a white South African adviser to President Trump. In their public performances they appear as antagonists, putting on a show for the gullible. In reality, they could be kissing cousins. Each one playing their “assigned” role as a performer in a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy. The audience gets sucked  into believing the characters on stage, until tragedy befalls at the end. The intended victims of this tragic play are the people of South Africa. This is no conspiracy. Malema and Musk do not have to communicate with each other. They just have to be allowed to perform their character with sincerity, in this staged drama, to manipulate the uninformed and credulous. Sadly, their words have real consequences as we  are witnessing today with President Trump’s wrongheaded and harmful Executive Order.

The dearth of electricity on the African Continent compared to Europe is a starling image of the lack of infrastructure. courtesy of es.pinterest.com)

 Make Africa Great

If the current U.S. president were more thoughtful, he would add to the MAGA a new acronym, MAG–Make Africa Great.

If President Trump and his coterie of wealthy business executives, who claim to be so smart at making money, why are they so dumb about the economic potential of Africa?

Africa’s expanding population is projected to reach 2.4 billion people by 2050. It will also have the largest number of people who would be eligible to join the workforce. The continent is also endowed with abundant resources and critical minerals. There is little doubt that the African continent will be the center of trade and commerce on the planet within the next generation. As a result, it will also become a predominant focus of foreign policy. Policies initiated by the U.S. today. towards Africa nations, will affect the future of the African continent, and implicitly all nations on the planet.

Africa’s huge deficit in hard infrastructure has prevented African nations from becoming sovereign industrialized countries. Most consequential is the absolute paucity of  electricity and the absence of a transcontinental railroad system. The quality and size of an economy’s  infrastructure platform delimits the economic growth of that nation. Greatly expanding vitally necessary infrastructure across Africa is the most obvious investment for industrial capitalists to assist African economies in becoming profitable. Think about the billions of African consumers. Think about the potential of all the nascent industries that can develop in numerous fields of manufacturing and agriculture. Technologically advanced American industries can become the suppliers to the needs of expanding African economies. Long-term investments in African nations will yield profits from physical growth, as opposed to speculation and the imposition of unfair terms of trade.

African nations need extended loans with interest rates of 2-3 percent directed to investment in infrastructure.

In the first administration, President Trump created the International  Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The mission of the DFC and its funding practices have to be greatly expanded. Its lending capacity has to be increased to meet the needs of potential investment in infrastructure throughout Africa. The DFC should become a bank for development, capable of lending hundreds of billions of dollars of long-term loans with low interest rates.

One of the stated goals of the many China hawks of the new administration, is to counter China in Africa. President Trump should break-free from the dangerously idiotic “zero-sum” axiom held dearly by the collapsing rules-based order. Instead, the U.S. should compete with China in fostering real economic growth in Africa. President Trump should lead the U.S. in building his own “beautiful” equivalent of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road, if the U.S. still has sufficient productive capacity. Better yet, why not have the U.S. collaborate with China in eliminating poverty and hunger in less developed nations, and bring about a “golden age” of industrial economic growth for the entire planet?

If President Trump adopts this, or an equivalent mission, then he will understand that South Africa, because of its earned political and moral stature in the Global South, can become a beneficial partner. South Africa, a member of the BRICS, endowed with rich mineral wealth, and the largest industrialized economy in Africa (although still small), is potentially a valuable ally of the U.S.

 I say to President Trump: you have already up-ended the Anglo-American Transatlantic Establishment and the ideologically corrupt NATO alliance. Why not become the American leader, who advances economic growth in Africa, superseding the 60 year old failed U.S. policy  of simply giving aid, but no development? This would leave a wonderful legacy of your second term as president.

Read below my earlier posts:

U.S. Attacks South Africa For Its Moral Leadership & China Alliance

South African Minister Pandor Speaks On Importance BRICS Economic Cooperation

South African Minister Pandor Speaks ”Truth to Power” in U.S.

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World

U.S. Attacks South Africa For Its Moral Leadership & China Alliance

Lawrence , , , , , , ,
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Chinese President Xi Jinping (courtesy of the Pan African Review.

December 20, 2024

The Republic of South Africa has been under attack in 2024, by the 118th United States Congress. Thses attacks may escalate in the new Republican administration.

Congressman John James (R-MI), sponsored  H.R. 7256-HR7256/text– earlier this year, which was voted up by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and may become law in a vote by the full Congress before the end of this year. South Africa is accused of threatening U.S. security by maintaining a dialogue with the Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation, and People’s Republic of China, all of which are members of the BRICS. In H.R. 7256, Naledi Pandor, then South African Foreign Minister, is singled out. South African President, President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Pandor are also vilified for bringing Israel’s genocidal behavior against the Palestinian people to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a United Nations created court. Cong. James also criticizes South Africa for participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. His proposed legislation recommends, that upon review by the State and Defense Departments, South Africa could be removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

On October 29, 2024, six Republican Congressman wrote to President Biden:

Pretoria [South Africa] has consistently failed to demonstrate a consistent fidelity to the rule of law and routinely takes measures to undermine our nation’s vital security interests – both clearly contradict AGOA eligibility requirements…and merit re-evaluation of South Africa’s inclusion as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country           

In this over the top assault, the letter also accuses South Africa of filing a “baseless claim” before the ICJ. The final paragraph exposes the motivation of these Congressman:

South Africa’s unmitigated embrace of the Chinese Communist Party raises further national security concerns and a present challenge. At the urging of the People’s Republic of China, South Africa is preparing to close Taiwan’s representative office in Pretoria by the end of the month. Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the President conducts an annual review of beneficiary states. As you conduct this statutorily prescribed annual review, we urge you to re-evaluate whether South Africa should continue to benefit from AGOA preference benefits, and make it known to the South African authorities that they risk losing these benefits if they pursue this unjustified course of action against Taiwan. There is no reason why our nation should continue providing economic benefits to a country that consistently and proudly prioritizes the interests of Beijing and Moscow over America’s. (emphasis added)

There is speculation that President Trump will make an example out of South Africa and punish South Africa politically by removing it from AGOA. This scenario is not farfetched. Trump has already declared he will wage war on the BRICS, if he believes they are undermining the supremacy of the dollar in currency transactions among themselves. Also, President Biden has used AGOA, a commercial trade agreement, to politically punish African nations, including Ethiopia. We shall see if the new president ironically follows in the footsteps of his predecessor.

Anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress, ANC member Nelson Mandela raises his fist while addressing a crowd in Tokoza, during his tour of townships, Sept. 5, 1990 (courtesy voanews.com)

Why South Africa Targeted?

The dominance of the rules based order’s diseased ideology of a zero-sum world of political relationships, has put South Africa in the crosshairs of the U.S. Its political-economic association with the nations that Washington characterizes as the “axis of evil,” especially China, have made South Africa a victim of U.S. animus.

As an early member of the BRICS, the first African nation to join this new formation, South Africa has played a special leadership role in the Global South.

South Africa’s historic struggle for liberation from apartheid, led by Nelson Mandella, has given South Africa the fortitude to express its moral outrage against oppression. It is not surprising that South Africa, of all nations, brought to the ICJ, the criminal oppression of the Palestinians in Gaza, by Israel. Nor should one be shocked by the vile response of the U.S. led rules-based order, to this courageous act by South Africa.

To understand why South Africa, China, and the BRICS, are targets of the rules-based order, one has to comprehend the changing dynamic in the world. The so called developed northern nations, the G-7, are experiencing the decline of their hegemony over the rest of the nations of the world. The BRICS-22 nations comprise a majority of the world’s population. The nations of the Global South, endowed with the majority of the planet’s natural resources, including critical minerals, are beginning to assert their rightful prominence. It is imperative today, at this historic juncture in the world, for the Global South to lead a movement to create a new just economic system, a new paradigm of development, for the benefit of all people of all nations.

Below is an excerpt from a discussion with Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation for South Africa, 2019-2024. Pandor eloquently expresses the aspirations of South Africa, and the Global South:

We should encourage a new human relation across the world; one that is devoted to empowering all human beings and ensuring that we develop a more prosperous, a more engaged, a more skilled humanity able to address the fundamental problems that confront all of us.

Grace Naledi Pandor, at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, March 19, 2024.

The following is an edited transcript of Her Excellency Naledi Pandor’s presentation to Panel 1 of the Dec.7-8 Schiller Institute conference, featured in EIR magazine December 13, 2024

Our world today is experiencing a most profound and disruptive level of toxic politics, dominated by aggressive self-interest and neglect of the value of global cooperation. Multilateral bodies such as the United Nations have not been able to respond decisively. And the most powerful organ of the United Nations, the Security Council, is held hostage by great power competition and uneven use of the veto. Many commentators have referred to the past five years as a most toxic geopolitical environment, testing international relations and fraying long-established bonds that helped to avoid a world war for more than five decades. The period is also viewed by some as an inflection point, a period that offers up room for a new collective of progressive ideas that will seek to put people rather than interests first.

The South Must Step Up

There is hope that the South will step up. The concept of “South” is a contested one, as the region does not have a coherent connected grouping of nations with a shared hegemony such as exists with nations of the North. So, we are still grappling with the meaning and unity of the South. There are, however, promising signs of the emergence of new formations and policy perspectives. For example, South Africa has shown a positive commitment to international law and to the United Nations system, through its approach to the International Court of Justice in the effort to end the ongoing war against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian Territories. South Africa, in doing this, placed human rights and concern for those who suffer harm at the forefront of its foreign policy actions.

This was reminiscent of former President Nelson Mandela, who played a key role in several peace initiatives on the continent of Africa, and who shaped South Africa’s foreign policy as one that is based on the concern for others, on the promotion of human rights, and on international solidarity. So, “I care for you, because you care for me.” This relates to a very ancient African philosophy of Ubuntu, which means “I am human because you recognize in action my humanity.”

BRICS Summit, Kazan Russia, October 2024 (courtesy voanews.com).

A second positive development is the increased maturing of the BRICS forum into an expanded body that seeks a more inclusive approach in global politics and international partnerships. BRICS has emerged as a positive forum in that it seeks to discuss new ideas on key issues such as science, innovation, trade, international financing, and the development of the South. The establishment of the BRICS New Development Bank and its early success give further hope for the creation of new institutions and new practices.

One of the realities…the critical importance of science and innovation, is that grant funding to Africa rarely includes funding for research, funding for innovation capacity, funding for advancing science on the African continent.

We also believe that devoted attention to United Nations reform and democratization of the Security Council is another positive opportunity that we should use to reshape world relations. The General Assembly meeting of last September committed to advancing reform processes, and to making the Security Council more effective, more efficient, more democratic, and more representative.

Lastly, I believe the task of the next five decades is certainly the adoption of workable strategies for the fundamental transformation of Africa. Our continent has to address the difficult challenges of inequality, poverty, and joblessness. Africa has a significant, impatient youth population, eager to achieve a prosperous, democratic, empowering Africa. The global community should therefore work closely with our African Union to advance implementation of our African blueprint for development, Agenda 2063. In this blueprint, we set out the critical areas of development, including water, renewable energy resources, infrastructure, and logistics for intra-African trade, agriculture, and food security. And we require that our partners should provide support to the continent to enhance capacity for implementation of this development agenda. We don’t need new plans; we need to make sure that existing plans are effective and that they work to the good of Africa, to the good of all humanity in the South.

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

We believe that the South can be a source of progress, of peace and security. Countries of the South should embrace democracy, the practice of human rights, and respect for international law as key guarantees of the means to end the toxicity of power competition that has truly eroded human relations. In fact, the erosion of respect for human rights, of respect for international law, poses a very serious threat to the practice of science, because undemocratic governments hate the honesty of scientific research, hate the opportunity of innovation. And thus, it is incumbent on all of us to adopt the ideas set out in the Schiller Institute development framework to really ensure that all the aspects of human endeavor which advance human progress are embraced by governments in the South as well as governments in the North.

We should encourage a new human relation across the world; one that is devoted to empowering all human beings and ensuring that we develop a more prosperous, a more engaged, a more skilled humanity able to address the fundamental problems that confront all of us. Because alongside the problems, we have a human capacity—an ingenuity—of problem resolution; and we need to unite in drawing that capacity together and ensuring that we use international relations to resolve the problems of the world…

I think the notion of preparing for war is a very poor example of leadership. What we should be preparing for is using our innate abilities in order to advance the world. We’re at a point where many countries hold very worrying and lethal weapons. I come from South Africa, which is a country that agreed to destroy the nuclear weapons that it had had the opportunity to build in the apartheid era. One of the first decisions of the new government headed by Nelson Mandela was that we would be against the holding of nuclear weapons. And that while we have nuclear scientific capability, it would be put to peaceful purposes and not be directed to weaponizing South Africa against any country in Africa or any part of the world.

So, I believe that what we need is fresh thinking. We need a civil society, and particularly intellectual organizations, to be more visible and vocal in presenting alternative perspectives on how we should view the world, and setting out from research clear examples of what we can anticipate should we go the route of a negative confrontation between the most powerful in the world. This will harm all of us. If the great powers are able to reach a rapprochement, it will allow for enhanced development, particularly of the poorest countries of the South. It will set the world on a very new trajectory and would offer an opportunity for real change and independence that we’ve not had since the beginnings of the end of imperialism and colonialism on the African continent.

So, this environment, while toxic, offers a new opportunity to engage in a very different way through international relations in building new partnerships among all the various regions of the world. But it is the most powerful who must make the decision to do something positive. Otherwise, they are going to generate a reaction which will lead to the destruction of the world and increased world instability as we are seeing from week to week in different parts of the world today….

Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Beijing, September 2024 (courtesy of semafor.com)

China’s Role in Africa

Well, firstly it’s absolutely untrue that China has a colonial relationship with the African continent. In fact, through the partnership with China, many African countries have achieved a level of infrastructure development that they would not have achieved in the past 15 years, had it not been for resources provided from financial lenders in China.

What we have seen though more recently is rather than state-owned companies being the provider of grant or loan funding to African countries, it has become much more the private sector of China taking up that role. So, there have been concerns about increased indebtedness of African countries, but I think it’s an absolute creative imagination that suggests a similar relationship to the colonial experience. The roads that we see in several African countries, the development of railways, the building of bridges, the enhancement of port infrastructure are very different from the trade character of African countries under colonialism.

In the context of the G20, there is now much closer discussion about how the more developed countries, which include China as a G20 member, could collaborate more effectively in enhancing support to African countries. I think that’s a very positive development. Nonetheless, China remains a significant trading partner for the African continent, both in terms of exports from Africa, which are largely commodities, but also imports from China into Africa.

The change to the private sector has seen the establishment of local business plants in the African continent, so adding some productive capacity, which has for many decades been a desire of Africa. So, I think it remains a positive relationship. The issue of funding and particularly the growth in private sector debt is an area that many countries’ governments are now having to pay close attention to. But it is very different from the underdevelopment that we saw in the imperial and colonial periods. (emphasis added)

To read the full discussion click: Pandor

Read my earlier posts below:

South African Minister Pandor Speaks On Importance BRICS Economic Cooperation

South African Minister Pandor Speaks ”Truth to Power” in U.S.

South African Minister Pandor Articulates Principles of Development for Africa

Freeman Interview: Is The West’s Rules-Based Order Targeting Horn of Africa and South Africa?

A belated Happy Birthday to Ludwig van Beethoven, December 16, 1770, and an early Happy New Year to all!

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog:   lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World

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South African Minister Pandor Speaks On Importance BRICS Economic Cooperation

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Lawrence Freeman with Naledi Pandor, Minister of International
Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa, in Washington DC, March 2024

June 16, 2024

The BRICS and the emergence of the Global South are providing an alternative to the Western created rules-based order, which is failing due to its flawed axioms of belief. Both Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa, and Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, addressed the importance of this new multi-polar dynamic in the world. Both presentations beg the need for the creation of a “new just economic order” based on a paradigm of economic development.  

Below are excerpts of Minister Pandor’s June 10th remarks.

We mark the expansion of BRICS to include further members of the global South and so increase our voice and influence as we continue to strive to shape a more fair, just and representative multipolar world order.

We also face very complex and political challenges that require ingenuity, innovation and increased global cooperation and we can be a force for good.

South Africa stands ready to work with our new members as they join all BRICS cooperation tracks and structures.

BRICS has increasingly become an important global forum. It is important that we maintain the momentum across all pillars of cooperation in the BRICS spirit of solidarity, openness, mutual respect and understanding in full consultation and consensus. Our collaboration can enhance effective action in all three pillars of BRICS, namely financial and economic cooperation, political and security cooperation, and cultural and people-to-people cooperation.

Together, we can realise the full potential of our BRICS economic partnership for mutually beneficial and inclusive economic growth and sustainable development. We therefore welcome the establishment of a Task Force to prepare a “BRICS Report on Improving the International Monetary and Financial System” and Central Bank discussions on the feasibility of establishing a BRICS international settlement and depository platform.

Our vision for BRICS is to foster a partnership that promotes the inclusion of countries of the global South in a fair, just, and equitable world, based on mutual respect and the equal sovereignty of nations. We see our partnership as a catalyst for sustained and mutually beneficial global growth and sustainable development that addresses the needs and demands of the entire world, not just the rich and the privileged.

As BRICS, we share a commitment to upholding and strengthening international law and advancing the central role of the United Nations in promoting inclusive multilateralism to foster increased cooperation between sovereign states in pursuit of international peace and security, sustainable development, democracy, human rights, and fundamental freedoms for all. (emphasis added)

Read Minister Pandor’s complete remarks: Pandor on BRICS

© Sergey Bulkin/TASS

Below are excerpts from Minister Lavrov.

Multipolarity is not something that depends on the wishes of a certain state or a group of nations. Multipolarity or polycentrism as we also call it, is an objectively developing historical process which cannot be stopped. Although the West is trying to stall it by crook or by hook in order to prolong its hegemony that was proclaimed as the main goal of the US and its allies. They openly say that the world order in which the leading role belongs to the Americans, NATO and the EU, cannot be allowed to change.

This is an openly neocolonial mentality, which is manifested in everything the collective West does. It is the West that is trying to divide the world into various blocs. Think back to how the Americans convened a special ‘summit for democracy’, where they personally appointed the participants and sent them invitations. There was only one criterion for being invited – loyalty to the United States, first of all, loyalty to the democratic administration of [US President] Joe Biden.

Read my earlier posts below on this subject:

Lawrence Freeman: Why The “Rules-Based International Order” Has Failed and Will Always Fail: The Case of Africa

Freeman Interview: Is The West’s Rules-Based Order Targeting Horn of Africa and South Africa?

“Pan African Visions” Freeman Interview: The Newly Expanded BRICS Has Indelibly Changed The Universe-Ethiopia and Africa

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

South Africa Led the World in Small Nuclear Reactors: Africa Needs Nuclear Energy Today!

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My African dream; nuclear power everywhere
May 30, 2024

Watch this video from africanagenda.net.
Kelvin Kemm: DA’s Mileham spewed political propaganda – nuclear power is cheaper, safer, faster

Read my earlier posts:

South African Activist Campaigns for Nuclear Energy For Africa: Essential for Industrialization

South Africa: A Leader on the Continent for Nuclear Energy

“Electricity is the lifeblood of a nation” Nuclear Energy Can Be A Solution To The Continent’s Dearth of Electricity

Nuclear Power A Necessity for Africa’s Economic Growth

African Nations Desperately Need Energy for Economic Growth

Africa`s Future Depends on Adopting Nuclear Power Generation

In the Next Decade, Nuclear Power for Africa Is A Necessity, Not An Option

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World.”

South African Minister Pandor Speaks ”Truth to Power” in U.S.

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South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Grace Naledi Pandor

March 30, 2024

South Africa is under attack by the self-proclaimed international rules-based order, which is another name for the Anglo-American establishment. Naledi Pandor, who is the equivalent of the Foreign Minister for South Africa, in her visit to the United States, is challenging their geopolitical doctrine that erroneously views the world as a zero-sum game composed of only victors and victims.

South Africa is being assaulted in the United States Congress for its right to conduct its sovereign foreign policy with other nations. Congressman John James (R-MI) has spearheaded the passage of legislation H.R. 7256  through the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which alleges that South Africa is a threat to the national security of the U.S.

H.R. 7256  Section 3, sense of the Congress (1)

that the ANC’s foreign policy actions have long ceased to reflect the stated stance of nonalignment, and now directly favor that PRC, the Russian Federation, and Hamas, a known proxy of Iran, and therefore undermines the United States national security and foreign policy interest.

The mis-named U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act, with bipartisan support has passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and can now advance to a full vote of  to the House of Representatives.

According to this nefarious legislation, South Africa’s alleged “offences” include:

  • Courageously bringing to the United Nations International Court of Justice, the genocidal behavior by the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamim Netanyahu against the Palestinian people of Gaza.
  • Remaining in continuous dialogue with nations of the so called axis of evil; Russia, China, and Iran.
  • For participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
  • For being a leader of the Global South and Non-Aligned Movement that provides an alternative to the diseased ideology of zero-sum geopolitics. .

In a March 21, press release from his office, Cong James writes: “South African officials have made a miscalculation by aligning themselves with Russia and China. It is in our national security interests for the United States to review our relationships with nations that may not share our values and align themselves with such actors.

This disgraceful piece of legislation, which attacks Minister Pandor personally, reflects the animus towards a nation that does not accept the absolute authority of the “rules-based order.” South Africa is being targeted by the United States, not for any single action it has taken, but because South Africa will not submit to the dictates of the Western political-financial elite.  South Africa, other African nations and those of the Global South will rightly understand this legislation as a full scale violation of South Africa’s sovereignty.

Minister Pandor, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, March 19, 2024

Speaking Truth to Power

Into this environment, Minister Pandor challenged the precepts of geopolitical thinking in Washington, displaying courage, morality, diplomatic adeptness, all with a quality of grace and dignity, rarely seen in the U.S. Capital.

On March 19, I had the privilege of observing Minister Pandor in her discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and afterwards at an inter-faith dialogue at the South African embassy on ending the war in Gaza.

The event at Carnegie entitled: Are South Africa-U.S. Relations at a Turning Point? A Conversation With Naledi Pandor, was conducted by Dan Baer, Carnegie’s senior vice president for policy research. Baer’s argumentative attitude reflecting the prejudices of Washington, was constantly challenged by Minister Pandor, as can be seen from the partial transcript that follows.

Baer began by asking Min. Pandor to rate American political leadership. She responded, shockingly: I rate it at 6 for executive and below that for the legislature…. I’m not sure the legislators have an understanding of South Africa…. I think they make conclusions about South Africa’s international relations, without necessarily speaking to us. And this is very troubling…. If I were to make a statement about their policy, I would at least speak to us first, and attempt to understand, the cause, if any, might be of an emerging dissonance.

Regarding the United Nations, Min. Pandor said: I think we need to look at the composition and the functioning, and the capacity associated with having a Security Council. I think we should have African presence as permanent members…. I also think East Asia should have a presence. I think India being so big and not being a part of the permanent members is an odd reality….

Continuing on the UN, she said: we don’t need more multilateral bodies to replace the United Nations, but the UN needs to be reformed to be more than a monitoring body…. We need to consider the [UN] capacity for peace enforcement. We have to find a way of protecting innocent people when there’s a conflict.

Minister Pandor participating in an interfaith dialogue (South African Embassy, March 19) with representatives from Jewish, Christian and Muslim organizations opposed to Israeli’s war in Gaza.

Baer asserted that: the BRICS invited six new members, four of which are authoritarian regimes.

Pandor stood her ground, responding: Who makes these judgments? This assessment that you’re making…

Baer interrupted her, saying: You would challenge the premise that Iran, for example, is an authoritarian regime?

Min. Pandor: Is it your role to make that judgment?

Baer replied: I don’t think it’s me, uh, saying that. It’s widely regarded by most people….

Min. Pandor: I don’t know if they are an authoritarian regime. I do know that—

Baer interrupted: The minister of South Africa does not know if the regime in Iran is authoritarian?

Min. Pandor: I don’t have that definition in my logbook. I do have a concern about women, and their rights in Iran, and this is something I have discussed with the government of Iran, particularly my colleague, the foreign minister…. And to use our [South Africa’s] earned democratic success to say this actually works … because if we stop talking with everybody, because we define them in a particular way, I think that the models we have adopted would not have any meaning…. We use our post-apartheid progress as a way of exemplifying for others that we think this is a good practice to adopt.

Baer: It’s difficult to make the argument that South Africa’s example is available to people in Iran or China, or in Saudi Arabia….”

Min. Pandor: We’re not a perfect democracy by any means…. We have huge problems of poverty … which derive from our history … which we have not been able to fully address as an emerging democracy. But I do believe that there is a strength in being able to speak with everyone, because if you close off, I don’t think you achieve anything.

International Court of Justice (Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The discussion was contentious again when Baer criticized South Africa for bringing the charge of Israeli genocide against Palestinians living in Gaza, to the International Court of Justice, and not against Russia for the war in Ukraine.

Baer: What did South Africa intend to accomplish by bringing its case to the ICJ on Gaza? And how does South Africa square that with abstaining on UN resolutions with respect to Russia’s aggression to Ukraine? You compellingly spoke of the need for the UN to respond to the killing of innocent civilians, and certainly that’s happening in Ukraine. How does South Africa see connecting those two positions?

Min. Pandor: On Gaza, and what we hope to accomplish, the first thing is to stop the killing of innocent Palestinians, and what we’ve seen, what each of us watches every day, surely makes us horrified about ourselves, and our inability to stop that. So, we hoped that through the ICJ, through respect for it…as one of the international law institutions that through the provisional measures … would reduce the harm…. We knew that we may not stop the conflict in its entirety, but if we could reduce harm to the civilian population and get humanitarian aid in, we would be happy.

Min. Pandor: Provisional measures have been ignored by Israel, we’re seeing mass starvation now, and famine before our very eyes…. I think as humanity we need to look at ourselves in horror…. Speaking of Israel’s defiance to adhere to any law… there’s license, I can do what I want, and not be stopped…. The minute you allow something like this, then what you’re doing is setting in play a form of practice that will be very difficult to challenge in the future. We went to the ICJ, because we have always been told by those who know democracy better than us, that we must respect human rights, that we should respect UN institutions, that we should practice democracy, that we should end conflict in Africa. And so, we were merely practicing what is preached to us every day….

Min. Pandor: It behooves us to say, how do we find a better way…. It’s made more difficult by the most powerful countries in the world, because the impression that’s created is that it’s the weak who must respect, the weak should implement and the powerful can do what they want.

Min. Pandor: How do the powerful contribute to the greater good? What role is being played to ensure all of us hold up the highest standard? We’re the country that remains talking every week to both [Russia and Ukraine]. That’s saying we’ve got to get you in the same room. We participated in all the working groups, on the peace plan of President Zelenskyy. And we’ve now said, we think there has to be a meeting with Russia….

Talking of South Africa’s aspirations for the continent, Min. Pandor said: So, we do try to be good. But we don’t get it right all the time. … I believe we’re making an effort. And for us, the first prize would be in Africa to silence the guns, focus on development, industrialization, productive capacity, and achieving a livelihood for the majority of Africans, that places us in a different space of development. That is first prize, and first concern for us.

I completely concur with Minister Pandor: development, industrialization, and improving the livelihood of Africans is the first prize!

In the videos below, once can view Minister Pandor’s articulation of South Africa’s policy.

Read my earlier posts:

South African Minister Pandor Articulates Principles of Development for Africa

Int’l Court of Justice Rules Genocide Plausible: Netanyahu & Biden Losing Support

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

Infrastructure Essential for Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Economic Integration

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February 5, 2024

Image: courtesy of tanzaniainvest.com

The two articles combined, (see below) by PD Lawton, (africanagenda.net), provide a clear conception of how Africa will increase its economic integration through the expansion of regional railway systems. Massive expansion Infrastructure, such as rail, road, water, and especially electricity, is the only way Africa will realize the goals of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The interview with the Director General of Tanzania Railway Corporation, (watch below) is an exciting overview of Tanzania’s commitment to regional economic growth by investing in new railroads, such as the Central Corridor Tanzania SGR.

At the Durban launch President Ramaphosa spoke of the days of Africa being the raw materials market for the global North were over. It is time for the world to meet Made in Africa.

President Cyril Ramaphosa officiated the launch of South Africa’s first shipment under the preferential trading agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on 31 January 2024 at the Port of Durban, Kwa Zulu Natal. The shipment to Ghana includes refrigerators [1] home appliances and mining equipment.

This is an historic event for the entire continent as it marks the practical realization of the AfCFTA Agreement which was inaugurated on the 1 January 2021.

AfCFTA is expected to increase the size of Africa’s economy to $29 trillion by 2050.

Read President Ramaphosa’s remarks below.

Made in Africa: Historic Moment for Economic Integration

Read below the detailed outline of the phases for construction of the Central Corridor Tanzania SGR

Transforming Railways In Tanzania: An Exclusive Interview With TRC’s Director General, Masanja Kadogosa

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

Int’l Court of Justice Rules Genocide Plausible: Netanyahu & Biden Losing Support

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International Court of Justice (Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

January 30, 2024

Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not defeating Hamas, it is exterminating Palestinians. In his full scale assault on Gaza, and to a lesser extent, the West Bank, Netanyahu is failing just as he did prior to the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas, when he was unsuccessful in protecting Israel. His war on Hamas will not succeed. Israel has yet to make further progress in freeing the remaining hostages since the weeklong hostage for prisoner exchange last year. Due to the growing political isolation of the U.S. and Israel, there attempts underway, so far unsuccessful, to establish a two month pause in the military campaign by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

On January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), issued the first condemnation and warning to Israel. Although it did not accuse Israel of genocide or call for a cease fire, it validated the legitimacy of the allegations by the government of South Africa. (See text of ICJ’s decision). A full reading of the court’s decision clearly shows that claims of genocide are plausible.

The ruling by the ICJ, in its closing section: VI. CONCLUSION AND MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED, contains the following:

Paragraph 75 reads: The Court concludes on the basis of the above considerations that the conditions required by its Statute for it to indicate provisional measures are met. It is therefore necessary, pending its final decision, for the Court to indicate certain measures in order to protect the rights claimed by South Africa that the Court has found to be plausible-(see paragraph 54 above).

Paragraph 54 reads: In the Court’s view, the facts and circumstances mentioned above are sufficient to conclude that at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible. This is the case with respect to the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts identified in Article III, and the right of South Africa to seek Israel’s compliance with the latter’s obligations under the Convention.

The findings by the International Court of Justice, which is an arm of the United Nations, is instructing Israel to take actions to prevent genocide of the Palestinians living in Gaza.  (Read: The ICJ’s Ruling on Genocide Is Actually a Gamechanger)

Public hearings in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel began at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on January 11, 2024.  (Photo: Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Courtesy of commondreams.org)

Genocide in Effect

Genocide is defined as a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group in whole or in part.

The challenge to proving genocide is to demonstrate intent. In the case of Netanyahu’s war against the people of Gaza, we have sufficient evidence to prove genocide in effect.

  • In the 3.5 months, since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, the IDF, has become infamous for killing the greatest number of civilians, mostly women and children, in the shortest period of time. In 3.5 months, Israel has accomplished the following:
  • 26,000 Palestinians (that we know of) have been killed in Gaza. That is more than 1% of the total population of 2.2 million. This does not count the Palestinians also killed by Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers on the West Bank.
  • 63,000 Palestinians have been wounded, the majority women and children.
  • According to  ReliefWeb, 10,000 children have had their lives snuffed out.
  • The United Nations reports that every hour, two Palestinian mothers lose their lives. An estimated 6,000 mothers have been killed.

By comparison, in the 23-month long war, Ukraine, with a population of     36.7 million, has suffered the following casualties according to reporting  from the United Nations:

  • 10,242, Ukrainians have lost their lives.
  • 575 Ukrainian children have been killed.
  • 19,300 Ukrainians have been injured, including 1,264 children.

Do the math. The duration of war in Ukraine is more than six times longer than Gaza, and Ukraine’s population is sixteen times bigger. The rate of death of Palestinian children by Israeli troops, under orders from Netanyahu, is unprecedented.

The IDF claims that 9,000 members of Hamas have been killed. Even if we take these figures at face value, almost twice as many innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed in the war in Gaza than Hamas fighters.

Palestinian women walk by buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, October 16, 2023. © 2023 Hatem Moussa/AP Photo (Courtesy of hrw.org)

As disease, lack of potable water, and hunger spreads to a displaced population, more women and children will perish. It should be clear to anyone who understand the rudiments of demography: the effect will be a reduction in the rate of procreation of the  Palestinian people. Thus, decreasing the number of Palestinians living today and in the future.

Biden’s Self Inflicted Wound

President Biden is losing support from within his own Democratic Party and an increasing number of Americans, who oppose his blanket military and political support for Netanyahu’s war against Palestinians. The relentless bombardment of apartment buildings, houses, refugee camps, United Nations facilities, and hospitals has made Gaza not only the most dangerous place in the world, but a death zone for a desperate and displaced  population. No matter how much Biden’s advisors and press people try to spin it, the Biden administration has the blood of thousands of innocent Palestinians civilians on his hands.

When President Biden rushed to Israel to “bear hug” Netanyahu on October 18, 2023, eleven days after the Hamas attack, and pledged full U.S. support o for Israel’s war, he had already sealed his fate. Recently, President Biden has issued statements of disagreement with Netanyahu’s conduct of the war and his rejection of a Two State Solution, but President Biden gas failed to extricate himself from “the hug.”  

President Biden’s immoral support for Netanyahu’s slaughter of Palestinians has been challenged by large demonstrations across the U.S., threatened walkouts by Congressional aids, and letters of protest against the war from the President’s staff and his presidential election campaign committee for 2024. More than once, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has had to meet with dissident members of the State Department who oppose blanket U.S. support for Israel. Increasing numbers of young voters, a critical section of the voting population that Democrats are counting on to win the 2024 election, oppose U.S. backing for the war.

“The Hug.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with US President Joe Biden (Indiatvnews.com)

Last week more serious cracks appeared, when eighteen U.S. Senators from Biden’s party signed as co-sponsors to legislation to condition aid to Israel on their compliance (or lack of) with international humanitarian law. The New York Times reports that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) estimates about half of the 51 Democratic and independent senators would vote for such a measure on the floor. Earlier in the week the Senate tabled a motion sponsored by ten Democratic Senators to link aid to human rights abuses by Israel.

This election year, President Biden will need all the support he can get to be reelected, while Democrats will attempt to maintain control of the Senate, and not lose ground in the House of Representatives. In Michigan, a battleground state in this year’s presidential election,

Arab Americans are already distancing themselves from President Biden’s presidential campaign.

President Biden’s full backing to Israel, a nation which Americans witness killing innocent women and children every day, and wiping out entire families, will be a factor in the minds of voters when they go to the polls this November.

Photo/Eskinder DebebeTrucks carrying humanitarian aid wait to cross into Gaza from Egypt through Rafah. (Courtesy of the U.N.)

Netanyahu Was Always No Good

Netanyahu is using the war to remain in power as prime minister. The continued assault on the people of Gaza is his “re-election campaign.” No progress has been made since the earlier prisoner exchange two months ago. However, as the families of the hostages ramp up the pressure, Netanyahu, a conniving politician, is maneuvering to continue his grasp as leader of an increasingly isolated Israel.

If one looks back at Netanyahu’s history, it is clear that he always opposed peace with the Palestinians in Gaza and the West bank. How pathetically foolish it is for President Biden to believe that Netanyahu will be a dependable partner in establishing a Two State Solution. Not only has he recently, and repeatedly stated his opposition to a self-governed Gaza, but his real desire is to rid Gaza of Palestinians by murder or driving them out. Let us acknowledge what honest Jews and non-Jews alike know: Netanyahu will not be a reliable partner for peace with an independent Palestinian state.

Netanyahu has not changed his anti-Palestinian views in twenty years. Two decades ago, Netanyahu bitterly opposed the efforts to create peace with Palestine by Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, a true Israeli statesman. Rabin, a former military professional, and commander of the Six Day War died a warrior for peace after signing the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995. Rabin accused Netanyahu of in effect working with Hamas to prevent the signing of the peace  accords. The assassin of Rabin came from the extremist Jewish right-wing, who’s orbit was supported by Netanyahu’s Likud Party. Netanyahu vehemently opposed the peace accords and did not object when his Likud Party called Rabin a traitor for striving to create peace with Yassir Arafat. Leah Rabin had to force herself to shake Netanyahu’s hand at her husband’s funeral, because of the scurrilous campaign waged by him and the Likud Party against Rabin’s quest for peace.

Is President Biden capable of separating himself from the clutches of Netanyahu? The future of Israel, Palestine, and world peace may depend on it.

Below, watch Naledi Pandor, Minister of South Africa, on the ruling by International Court of Justice.

Read my earlier post: Netanyahu Must Leave Office for the Future Existence of Israel, Palestine, & Good of Humanity

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

Non-Aligned Movement Spreading Across The Globe

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Bandung 1955, Nehru of India, Nkrumah of Ghana, Nasser of UAR/Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia and Tito of Yugoslavia

January 25, 2024

Western media and governments, led by the United States are attempting to dismiss the growing dynamic by the “Global South” to chart an alternative path of development free from Western domination. In Washington DC, one can witness the palpable fears of de-dollarization, the rise of China’s leadership in the developing world, the expansion of the BRICS, and the declining dominance of the U.S. hegemon.

Below is a report by EIRNEWS of the recent meetings by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Third South Summit, organized by the G77+China, in Kampala, Uganda.

Representatives of the entire “Global South” have been meeting for over a week in Kampala, Uganda at two back-to-back summits on the central topic of creating a world system which is fair and just, in which their nations participate in making the decisions on how that system functions, so that their peoples, too, can develop.

The 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, held Jan.15-20, was followed Jan. 21-22 by the Third South Summit, organized by the G77+China, the grouping of developing countries founded in 1964 to jointly defend the collective economic interests of its members on major international economic issues at the UN and its relevant institutions. Members in the two groupings strongly overlap but are not synonymous. The NAM, with its historic roots in the 1955 Bandung Conference, today has 120 member nations from Africa, Asia and Central and South America, 20 observer states, and 11 organizations (such as the African Union and the Arab League). While it still keeps its original name, the G77+China now has more than 130 member states.

The theme of the G77 summit was “Leaving No One Behind.” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni “called on leaders in the world to support each other’s prosperity and ensure that no one is left behind.” He asked the central question of the day: “I wonder why global economic actors fail to understand that the prosperity of the entire world population benefits everyone, instead opting for policies that keep the majority in poverty.”

The Kampala Declaration issued at the end of the NAM Summit has a fighting tone. Targeting, for example, evil imperial practices which violate the sovereignty of nations protected under international law and the UN Charter, such as imposing coercive sanctions on nations.

And right from the outset of the Declaration, the right of Palestine and Palestinians to exist is asserted as their fight, as they reaffirmed “the importance of the Question of Palestine to the Non-Aligned Movement.” Expressing grave concern at “immense loss of life and injury, widespread destruction of their homes and massive forced displacement” being imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel, and the violence against the people of the West Bank, they take note of the case against Israel for genocide against Gaza filed before the International Court of Justice by South Africa, “a member of the movement,” themselves “strongly condemn the illegal Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip, the indiscriminate attacks against Palestinian civilians, civilian objects, the forced displacement of the Palestinian population and further call for an immediate and durable humanitarian ceasefire.” 

Read PD Lawton’s post below:

Could the Non-Aligned Movement Replace the United Nations?

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com