The Common Sense’s Diary

You gotta give it to South Africa’s foreign minister Ronald Lamola. After his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, published a letter critical of South Africa and its foreign policy last week, Lamola let him and the American administration have it with both barrels. Rubio said that South Africa had moved very far from its Mandela-era standing and influence. Lamola would not have that. He let Rubio know that delegates to the G20 had complimented South Africa on how friendly its people were. How dare the Americans dictate what domestic policies or foreign policy associations South Africa maintains? South Africa is a sovereign state and Lamola let Rubio know there is much South Africa could teach America about democracy and foreign policy. The band on the Titanic was not half so bold.

The trouble with South Africa’s policy towards America is perhaps best understood in these numbers. At the last read, South Africa’s unemployment rate was over 30%. Across the Atlantic a worried-sounding investment analyst’s note of last week read as follows: “US unemployment rose to 4.4% in September 2025 from 4.3% in August, ahead of analyst expectations of 4.3% and marking the highest level since October 2021.” In case the ANC needs reminding, it was the only party that lost an election last year, and those numbers had a bit to do with that.

As Richard Tren put it on the Makin Sense podcast last week, a better approach from Pretoria might be to let the Americans know that in South Africa the sun only rises in the morning when Mr Trump opens his eyes.

Gabriel Makin, who hosts the Makin Sense podcast, now introduces it as the greatest podcast in the world. That might not be far off – and it is certainly becoming a contender, with 90 minutes of South African and global news analysis brought to you by South African and ex-South African policy experts scattered from America to the UK, Johannesburg, and Europe.

As Pretoria let fly at Washington, Washington was putting the final touches to a peace plan that may vastly scale back the terrible war in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). South Africa had pursued several military and diplomatic misadventures in that region, all of which ultimately came to nought. At a ceremony last week, it was the Americans who hosted the Congolese and Rwandan leaders to begin drawing the terrible bloodletting to a close – the South Africans were not invited, just as they were not invited to the Gaza peace ceremony in Egypt earlier this year.

But the DRC peace pact is about mineral access, the Washington haters will cry. There can be little doubt. But what do they think the South Africans were up to in that region for all those years?

Some corners of the ANC are trying to outdo even the foreign ministry in triggering US sanctions against South Africa (chatter has it these might be the same corner). Regardless – a faction of that party has had Al Jama-ah, their small Islamist proxy party, front a new Bill that would criminalise support of Israel. Actions ranging from posting content that is pro-Israel online to working for a firm with Israeli interests and even travelling to Israel could have you prosecuted and thrown in jail. Even if you commit these acts abroad, the law will seek to have you arrested and prosecuted in South Africa if you set foot here.

John Steenhuisen – will he stay or will he go? There’s clearly a lobby out to sink him in his party and likely another in the government. The greatest danger he faces might come from the foot-and-mouth vaccination rollout he promised to deliver. That’s a logistical exercise no less complicated than the Covid-19 rollout in key respects. Already there are whispers that it is all becoming a bit of a shambles.

Two other shambles played out last week. More than 200 containers of fruit due to be exported to the European Christmas market had to be left on the quayside as their ship sailed away without them – following gross ineptitude by Cape Town port authorities. Correspondence seen by this newspaper was disappointing in the sense that the relevant authorities seemed put out that the industry had dared to complain to Cabinet-level leaders. Then there is the completely unnecessary decision to start closing more ferrochrome smelters because of electricity issues. Had the Cabinet moved more firmly on coal refitment that would not have been necessary. The unity government has done well to shore up sentiment around South Africa, but the upsides will be lost if operational failures in areas from foot-and-mouth disease, to ports, and industrial electricity supply are not taken care of.

In a bit of a coup RW Johnson has signed up to The Common Sense crew. He will likely headline every Sunday. The media platform has shown some growth from around half a million views in month one to over three times that in month three. Ten million is the next horizon-term target.