Mutual benefits are key to SA’s relationship with US

PROTESTS aimed mainly at US foreign policy in other regions should not be allowed to blur the significance of yesterday’s Union Buildings meeting between the black presidents of South Africa and the US. The fact that Jacob Zuma and Barack Obama hold the positions they do underlines the great progress made in both their countries to overcome long histories of devastating race-based oppression.

Now each leads a country in need of social development for its weakest members and accelerated economic growth to create jobs for the armies of unemployed.

Obama and Zuma did not hide their differences about issues such as the future of Palestine and the finalisation of Africa’s representation on the UN Security Council. But both men stressed at their joint news conference that the future relationship between their countries should focus on mutual benefits.

China’s increasing economic activity on the continent and in South Africa was a subtext of their press briefing, with Zuma warning that no one should dictate to Africa who its business partners should be.

Obama said repeatedly that he welcomed China’s entrance into the region: “I want everybody playing in Africa. The more the merrier.” He went on to warn twice, however, that African governments should closely scrutinise the deals offered to make sure they would grow employment for Africans, that beneficiation would happen at home and that profits would stay on the continent.

Zuma has not fully explained why Obama’s visit was rated “official” and not given the symbolism of a state visit along the lines of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s reception in May.

The US has poured more hard cash into South Africa’s social development since 1994 than any other country, including about R37-billion at current exchange rates, to address the symptoms of Aids and fight the spread of the HIV that causes it.

As other countries, including Britain, are scaling down their government-to-government support for South Africa, the US continues to back programmes to improve governance, health and education. This is a commitment we should not dismiss.

China does little in the social arena, but it has massively increased its investment in Africa and South Africa. At $200-billion last year, Chinese trade with Africa has obliterated the traditional US trade dominance.

Obama acknowledged that his primary economic concern was to grow markets for US goods and that the best way to do that was to help African countries grow their own economies.

We hope Zuma has successfully helped in this visit to keep that door open without making any deals not equally available to other countries.