Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa - my theory

So, Ramaphosa met Trump. Cue the performative outrage. But behind the cameras, away from the staged handshakes, something bigger happened. Something quieter, and a lot whiter.

Let’s talk about the new policy direction that suddenly appeared in our Government Gazette on 23 May 2025. Titled with all the dull, bureaucratic camouflage they could find, it’s really about one thing: letting multinational ICT corporations into South Africa without forcing them to sell equity to black South Africans — as long as they “invest” in transformation through what they call Equity Equivalent Investment Programmes (EEIPs).

Sounds progressive? Read slower. It’s a corporate bypass valve, one already designed and requested long ago by the same big players who always seem to need a “special exemption” from black economic empowerment.

Now, let’s talk timing. You don’t have to be a political analyst to notice that this policy shift drops immediately after Ramaphosa’s charm offensive in the US — where he rolled up with a caravan of what I can only call the Classic South African Export: rich, white men in golf shirts and tailored blazers. Johann Rupert was there. John Steenhuysen was there. And even Elon Musk’s interests somehow sneak through, despite the man not uttering a word at the meeting.

And what was Trump’s big contribution? Some half-baked PR around Malema and “Kill the Boer”, just enough blood in the water to get Fox News viewers nodding along. But notice who wasn’t at the centre of that show: JD Vance, who has previously torn into Zelensky with MAGA-style bile, suddenly went quiet. Why? Because this wasn't a debate. This was theatre. The deal was done before the curtains rose.

Let’s cut the nonsense. This EEIP direction was signed, sealed, and all but delivered before the plane touched down. Rupert didn’t fly across the Atlantic for the in-flight peanuts. He was there to secure the terms of the deal. Trump knew his job — provide the MAGA optics for his base while letting the money do its quiet work backstage. Ramaphosa’s job? Smile, talk development, and carry the flag. The actual business was conducted in golf-course whispers and private dinners.

Now, here’s the realpolitik part: I’m not entirely opposed to the outcome. Let’s be honest — if this unlocks broadband infrastructure in the Eastern Cape, if it gets fibre into schools in QwaQwa or job portals open in Giyani, then I’ll clench my jaw and live with the devil in the fine print. Because in a world where 50% youth unemployment is still treated like a sad fact of life rather than a national emergency, ideology sometimes needs to take a backseat to feeding people. If it takes a backroom deal with Rupert and Trump to do it — fine. But let’s not pretend it’s about justice.

Because this policy isn’t about empowerment. It’s about investment without ownership. It’s about foreign corporates avoiding local accountability by ticking B-BBEE boxes with “equivalent” gestures — funding a few incubators, sponsoring some coding bootcamps, and calling it transformation. It's the corporate version of a "thoughts and prayers" tweet.

Let me ask the uncomfortable question: if this is the biggest “empowerment” programme in ICT history, why does it require less actual black ownership?

The answer is simple: because power never cedes itself voluntarily. What we’re watching is a strategic retreat — a rearranging of the legal furniture to let the real players in without demanding a seat at the table for ordinary South Africans. It’s not new. We saw it with mining charters, we saw it with banks, and now we’re seeing it with digital infrastructure.

And here's the part that stings: the ANC signed off on it. Our supposed liberation movement handed the keys to a global elite and called it development. Steenhuisen — the DA’s gaffe-prone poster boy of tone-deafness — somehow ended up playing statesman in the deal, while black small business owners in Limpopo still can’t get reliable signal. If that’s not a metaphor, I don’t know what is.

Meanwhile, Trump gets to say he struck a deal with Africa that protects “white farmers” and promotes “free enterprise”. Musk gets infrastructure access without lifting a finger. Rupert, the master chess player of local influence, walks away with a handshake that probably adds a few billion to the bottom line.

So yes — I see the benefits. Yes — I know some jobs will come. And yes — I understand that in politics, sometimes you have to stomach your enemies’ breath to get the oxygen your people need.

But let’s be clear-eyed. This wasn’t empowerment. It was appeasement. Strategic? Maybe. Necessary? Possibly. But don’t sell it to me as a moral victory. It was a political trade — one that let capital keep the throne while tossing a few breadcrumbs to the hungry.

If we’re going to play realpolitik, let’s at least be honest about who got played.

Look at Thiel with Palantir -  spy software - and Elon. Both from Apartheid SA. They took the playbook — control resources, surveil populations, crush unions, privatise everything, pretend it's meritocracy — and sold it to the Pentagon wearing velskoen. Now it’s called innovation instead of oppression.

And the worst part? America’s lapping it up. Because nothing says “freedom” like biometric policing, AI-led drone strikes, and billionaires with childhoods in Pretoria explaining “free speech” to Congress.