Africa’s countries must work together to build the continent’s strength on the global stage.
I have been utterly frustrated by the commentary on the recent Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa. In South Africa, the conversation has largely oscillated between praise for Ramaphosa, and certain members of his delegation, for their maturity and leadership, and criticism of the president and some of the delegates.
These reactions miss some salient points that warrant interrogation beyond this particular event. Whether one was pleased with or disappointed by the South African delegation, it is important that we attend to the factors that got South Africa into this murky situation in the first place and the factors that shaped how the delegation showed up at the meeting.
It is instructive that this meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa happened a few days after Trump’s visit to the Gulf States of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In each of these three energy-rich nations, Trump was given an over-the-top reception and he in turn sang the praises of their rulers. In Riyadh, for example, he asserted that there would be no more “lectures on how to live or how to govern their own affairs”.
A key question then arises — why does Trump denounce US interventionist foreign policy in the Gulf, yet feel entitled to interfere in South Africa’s domestic affairs — specifically on unfounded claims about the “genocide” of white Afrikaners? These assertions, widely discredited by reliable data, formed the most contentious point of the Oval Office meeting.
The answer, to my mind, is a simple one. In the economic metrics of power that seem to be most important in international affairs, South Africa ranks low, given the fact that its GDP is significantly smaller than that of the US. Reliable estimates put the GDP of South Africa at $410.34 billion in 2025 while that of the US is estimated to be about $30.51 trillion.
It’s no surprise, then, that Ramaphosa would praise Trump’s generosity during the pandemic, and display excessive deference, simply because we “do not have the cards”, as Trump recently told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Because we do not have the cards, it therefore feels natural in the face of power like that of the US to dance around the truth, sit through lies and propaganda spewed to your face, and walk anxiously and timidly.
If South Africa, with the biggest economic and industrial might on the continent, is forced to dance, sit and walk awkwardly, what then is the fate of smaller African nations — all of which want to do business with the US and are desperate for investment, grants and loans from the US — and other foreign powers. I submit that South Africa, like the other countries on the continent, will continue to inhabit an inferior place unless we grow our economic power in a way that uplifts our people.
A narrow, nationalistic approach to South Africa’s growth is destined to fall short. The scale and urgency of our shared challenges demand a continent-wide strategy rooted in deeper integration, shared prosperity and collective action — this is the only way of strengthening our hands and bettering our cards.
Africa must harness its vast natural wealth, not for external profit but to uplift its people, who mostly still live in poverty. We must decisively reject the global extractive economic systems that continue to exploit the continent on neocolonial terms. We must act now to forge a new economic model — one that centres people and the planet, prioritises dignity over dependency and builds a future shaped by Africans, for Africans.
South Africa, the land of Nelson Mandela, who supposedly defeated apartheid, has enormous moral power. Invoking the eldership, perhaps the ancestral rank that Mandela and his name possess, has sometimes worked in our favour. This has given the country sufficient credibility to take the case of Israel’s alleged genocide in Gaza before the International Court of Justice.
However, the strategy of compensating for our poor economic status with our moral power would not save what seems to be an Africa stuck in a perpetual state of dependency and acquiescence.
Trump in his Oval Office meeting with Ramaphosa thought it laughable and “strange” that Zelenskyy of Ukraine would come to South Africa to canvas support to end the Russian-Ukrainian war. He asserted: “What the hell was he [Zelenskyy] doing in South Africa? That’s a strange one.”
This implied that Zelenskyy’s visit was a waste of time as South Africa lacks the significance and power to advance Ukraine’s interests. Ramaphosa, in response, touted the peace credentials of Mandela and his lessons, which seemed to have landed without any meaningful weight.
If South Africa is to be taken seriously on the global stage, it must grow its economy and embark on strategies that not only end poverty but also allow most people to thrive. South Africa and other countries on the continent cannot do this alone — Africa must unite to overcome the forces of oppression and inferiorisation. This is an old but even more urgent call.
This might come with some short-term pain but the prospect of an easy life for our people in the near future demands that we do hard things together now.
Akanimo Andrew Akpan, PhD, is a senior consultant at Reos Partners. He works on complex adaptive problems in various social systems, designing and facilitating cross-sectoral multi-stakeholder engagements to address humanity’s challenges. He is a member of the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg. He co-founded AlgoViva, a digital rights and AI assurance company that helps organisations develop and deploy algorithmic systems ethically, transparently, and responsibly. The views expressed here are his and do not reflect those of any of his associations.