The Council on Foreign Relations in the United States says it’s healthy to see South Africa emerge from a state of limbo with the election of President Cyril Ramaphosa while praising the people of the country and the African National Congress (ANC) for acknowledging the country’s problems and expressing themselves in light of them.
Former US Representative to SADC, the former US Ambassador to Botswana and currently, a Senior Fellow on Africa at the Council on Foreign Relations Michelle Gavin had a conversation with the SABC.
“I think it’s exciting to see a new day and new leadership for South Africa, healthy for the country not to linger in this sort of limbo state where it was clear that the transition was coming but exactly clear how it would be executed or in what time frame.”
Having being a representative to the region, representing the United States in Botswana and in SADC, Gavin shared his impressions of the administration of President Jacob Zuma.
“Well I think anyone paying attention to SA was dismayed and concerned particularly about the revelations that have been ongoing regarding corruption and state capture and so while of course it’s up to the people of South Africa to choose their leadership. I think all around the world, including in the United States. We can all recognize our insidious corruption is, makes it very difficult to pursue an agenda on any of our shared interests so I think it’s encouraging to see the South African people express themselves about these issues, to see the ANC acknowledge the problems and exciting to see where the country will go from here.”
When asked if she has the same impression that the the ANC itself has been moving slowly on this issue Gavin says, “I think it’s always difficult particularly to deal with internal problems and internal politics, yes everyone would like to see the kinds of problems that have come to light nipped in the bud, not allowed to fester and grow and chip away at the integrity of institutions but it’s also a reality that these are politically very difficult issues to handle.”
She does not believe one man can change everything no matter how gifted may be.
“Sure, well no, one man can’t change everything, no matter how gifted a leader so it takes time, so it will take time to unravel some of the infections within the system, it will take time I’m sure to regain the trust of people but what we’ve seen in SA is the very strong institutions, the strongly independent judiciary, a civil society that won’t be pushed around and so I think those are some powerful indicators, it’s certainly possible to turn this around and get the country moving in a positive direction again.”
When asked if he sees a wholesale change in terms of the cabinet change that Cyril Ramaphosa will now appoint Gavin says, “Well given the nature of the leadership slate as a whole, there might be some careful and tactical sailing ahead that maybe won’t look like dramatic perhaps right away but I certainly think that change can be expected and that there are some very capable and canny leadership that should be able to execute on the commitment to South Africa’s people.”
Lastly, Gavin characterized the current relationship between the US and SA, given that it has been quite fractured certainly under the predecessor Jacob Zuma.
“I would say that regardless of our respective national leaders, it’s always been an important relationship, it’s important to the United States, it should be important to SA. The Trump administration has been off to a very slow start in terms of even staffing the state department and our embassies and I think that in many cases, a number of issues have been allowed to pile up and not be addressed, perhaps the signals that have been sent have not been the most constructive ones but there is nothing to do but try to get it right from here forward.”
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