Time to show some spine, CR

If South Africa chooses to exempt Iran from the Brics naval exercise, Pretoria must stop claiming it won't allow itself to be bullied by the US - it has been pushed over for some time by Washington.

- Eric Mthobeli Naki

Such a move by our government indicates that South Africa has bowed to bullying by “dictator” Donald Trump.

President Cyril Ramaphosa repeated the phrase, “we can’t be bullied”, several times in his address at the weekend.

However, he smiled every time he uttered the words, a sign that he does not mean it. He was telling South Africans “read my lips”, when he should be saying “do as I do, not as I say”.

Ramaphosa’s foreign policy stance contradicts the approaches taken by both icon Nelson Mandela and his successor, Thabo Mbeki.

The two leaders clearly conveyed South Africa’s neutrality or nonalignment, but they remained firm in their stance against attempts to dictate which international allies South Africa should select. All US administrations knew this, yet none acted like Trump.

Trump himself, during his first administration, wasn’t like he is now; he respected South Africa to a large extent. He deployed a good ambassador to the country, Lana Marks, who worked to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.