Ramaphosa’s letter to Trump was a failure

A letter written by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to his US counterpart failed to sway Washington over its demands that Pretoria alter policies aimed at redressing apartheid-era inequalities, Business Day reported, citing US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III.

The missive didn’t satisfy President Donald Trump, the paper cited Bozell as saying.

Relations between the two nations have deteriorated since Trump returned to office last year.

The US leader offered Afrikaners refugee status and falsely accused the government in Pretoria of subjecting White farmers to genocide.

He issued an executive order suspending assistance to the country.

Bozell suggested that former South African President Thabo Mbeki is better placed to break the impasse between the two nations, Business Day said.

Washington expelled South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool last year, after he said Trump supporters were part of a “supremacist movement.”

The US also revoked the visa of former South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor.

Pandor was instrumental in her country’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which the Trump administration has also criticised.

Ramaphosa has said his government’s goals and policies are intended to improve the economic lot of South Africa’s Black majority — who were marginalised under apartheid — and that they have been misconstrued by the US.