{"id":97891,"date":"2025-05-25T18:38:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T16:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=97891"},"modified":"2025-05-25T18:38:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T16:38:40","slug":"reflections-on-ramaphosa-trump-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/reflections-on-ramaphosa-trump-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Ramaphosa-Trump Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em>
\n3-minute read
\n25 May 2025 | 11:30 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

South Africa President Ramaphosa and US President Trump meet in the Oval Office amid tense discussions on bilateral relations and controversial issues.<\/p><\/div>\n

A fiery exchange and tense moments marked the recent diplomatic engagement between President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump at the Oval Office\u2014an encounter that political analyst Dr. Ntsikelelo Breakfast says was more of a strategic standoff than a diplomatic disaster.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Islam International<\/a>, Dr. Breakfast dismissed the notion that the meeting \u201cwent wrong,\u201d explaining that the underlying goal was to \u201cmend the bilateral relationship between the two states.\u201d He believes that, despite the tension, \u201cwe did achieve our intended objective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting, which took a sharp turn when the issue of farm killings was raised, saw President Ramaphosa keeping his composure under intense pressure. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to interact with a person like Donald Trump\u2026 He\u2019s very unpredictable,\u201d said Dr. Breakfast, noting that the President \u201cdid very well,\u201d especially compared to how \u201cother meetings have gone wrong with other heads of states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the drama, however, stemmed from Trump\u2019s recurring claim that South Africa is heading toward \u201ca reverse apartheid.\u201d According to Dr. Breakfast, this narrative is being pushed by tech billionaire Elon Musk. \u201cHad it not been for Elon Musk, Trump would never have ascended to the helm of power\u2026 He\u2019s the one pushing this agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions were also raised about the unusual composition of the South African delegation, which included millionaire businessman Anton Rupert and DA leader John Steenhuisen. \u201cI\u2019ve got mixed feelings,\u201d said Breakfast, hinting at double standards and racial biases. \u201cImagine what would have happened had Ramaphosa gone with, let\u2019s say, a black person. People would have said that is state capture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the criticism, Ramaphosa\u2019s approach during the press briefing was lauded. Rather than monopolizing the platform, the President allowed various delegates\u2014including the Minister of Agriculture and Rupert\u2014to respond, highlighting that \u201cthose inputs were central in lifting up his argument.\u201d<\/p>\n

The standout moment, according to Dr. Breakfast, came when Ramaphosa was asked what message would satisfy Trump. \u201cHe needs to listen,\u201d Ramaphosa replied\u2014a move Breakfast labelled \u201ca masterstroke.\u201d<\/p>\n

While American media portrayed Trump as lacking statesmanship, Ramaphosa emerged as a \u201cwell-polished politician,\u201d leaving many South Africans with a sense of pride. \u201cHe stood out. He made us proud,\u201d Dr. Breakfast concluded.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview in The Daily Round Up<\/a> with Annisa Essack and Dr Dr. Ntsikelelo Breakfast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 25 May 2025 | 11:30 CAT A fiery exchange and tense moments marked the recent diplomatic engagement between President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump at the Oval Office\u2014an encounter that political analyst Dr. Ntsikelelo Breakfast says was more of a strategic standoff than a diplomatic disaster. Speaking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":97892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995,4997],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa","category-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-25-183231.jpg?fit=552%2C382&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-psT","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 22:46:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}