South Africa's sigh of relief as Putin and Ramaphosa make a deal on BRICS summit

SOUTH AFRICA - In Brief 19 Jul 2023 by Iraj Abedian

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President Putin and President Ramaphosa announced today that the Russian President is not going to attend the 2023 iBRICS Summit n South Africa next month. Russia will be represented by the Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov. This brought to an end months of speculation and political wrangling over Putin's attendance which would have placed the South African Government against the country's laws and global commitments. The market reactions to Putin's possible travels to South Africa were reflected in the currency's sharp depreciation during the last couple of months. On May 25th, the rand reached its lowest point at 19,82 against the US dollar. The US authorities, and in particular the Republicans at the Congress and the Senate were loud in their intention to disqualify South Africa from the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000) which is up for review later this year. Such exclusion would have cost the country dearly in the form of billions of dollars of loss in international trade and the associated employment losses. President Ramaphosa was quick to dispatch a special envoy to the US to engage the law makers and explain his government's position. At the same time, Ramaphosa is part of a 5-African Presidents peace maker team mediating between Russia and Ukraine. He could not be seen to be partisan in the process. The West in general, and the US authorities in particular, interpreted the possible arrival of Putin as a partial act on the side of the SA Government. Over the past few days as ambiguous and conflicting messages emerged from the Deputy President Paul Mashatile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Pandor, and other authorities, it became clear...