JOHANNESBURG: Senior South African diplomats have met their US counterparts in Washington to clarify “misconceptions” that have soured relations since President Donald Trump took office, South Africa’s government said on Tuesday.
The meetings were intended to explain South African policies so the Trump administration “positions itself as a strategic partner,” the foreign ministry said.
The new US government has torn into various South African policies, culminating in the expulsion of Pretoria’s ambassador Ebrahim Rasool last month.
Trump has also cut financial aid over what he alleged was an anti-white land policy and offered refugee settlement to the white Afrikaner minority that he has claimed is being persecuted.
“The delegation clarified key issues and misconceptions,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We believe that these dialogues will assist to refine the current administration’s understanding of South Africa’s position on critical matters, fostering a more nuanced perspective.”
The aim was for the Trump administration to position “itself as a strategic partner in a manner that avoids conflagration of our national interests against those of our strategic partners across the world.”
The South African officials addressed “misconceptions on what has been presented by some as race laws designed to undermine minority rights,” the statement said.
This included explaining a new Expropriation Act to show that it was not designed to facilitate unlawful land seizures, as alleged.
Trump’s right-hand man is South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who has in the past echoed far-right conspiracy theories about a “white genocide” in the country.
The South African delegation also briefed the UN General Assembly on the country’s ambitions for its presidency this year of the G20 group of leading economies which carries the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,” the statement said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio refused to attend the first G20 foreign ministers meeting in February, saying it had an “anti-American” agenda.
The General Assembly “overwhelmingly endorsed the priorities and theme of the South African G20 Presidency,” the statement added.
The United States is South Africa’s second-biggest trading partner and Pretoria is anxious to preserve this exchange.
Other disagreements between the two are over some of South Africa’s foreign policies, including its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the war in Gaza.