Tee off: Johann Rupert, golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen join Ramaphosa in crucial Trump meeting

One of South Africa’s richest men, renowned businessman Johann Rupert and golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen are reportedly part of  the high-level South African delegation led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who are set to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington.

Ramaphosa will meet Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, as the Pretoria government seeks to reset the damaged relations with the US, a key trading partner and investor in South Africa.

Ramaphosa has included the golfers in his arsenal, seeking to appeal to Trump who loves the sport.

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has confirmed that Trump requested  Ramaphosa to include businessman Rupert, Els and Goosen.

“Well, he did. I mean, he knows them. He knows South Africans, he knows Gary Player and all of those people, but he did ask for them to be part of the delegation, from what we have understood,” Mbalula told local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika in Cape Town.

“Yes, of course, that they be part of the delegation, because the main issue here is that South Africans have been killed in a genocide and so on,” Mbalula said.

“So I think we need to lay those matters to rest in terms of engagement, and it is important that South Africans from all walks of life have been really, really supportive of this anti-notion that there is a genocide in our country.”

When asked if Trump specifically named the individuals, Mbalula said, “Well, I am saying that in terms of the delegation, what is important is that it did refer to these South Africans, which he thought was important that they be part of the delegation, which he has known about for some time, and the president agreed to that.”

Speculation has been rife over the audience Ramaphosa will receive from Trump, following the dressing down given to visiting Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in February.

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IOL has previously reported that since his inauguration, Trump has cut aid to South Africa, and has offered South African Afrikaner an opportunity to relocate to the US as refugees. So far, the first batch of 49 Afrikaners has arrived in the US.

US President Donald Trump has made good on his promise to cut funding to South Africa over the government’s land expropriation policy and resettle white farmers, insisting that their land is being expropriated.

Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters has lambasted the inclusion of Rupert on the delegation.

"The Economic Freedom Fighters condemns in the strongest terms the inclusion of Stellenbosch billionaire Johann Rupert in a South African delegation that is set to meet with President of the United States of America Donald Trump to mend diplomatic, trade and economic relations between the two nations," said national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo.

"In what can only be described as capture and an exhibition of the undue influence of big business in an interaction between two nations premised on democracy and sovereignty, Trump and Ramaphosa have allowed their benefactors and funders to influence and control the relations between South Africa and the United States, undermining the people of both nations.

"Elon Musk and Johann Rupert are two sides of the same coin. Both are egoistical businessmen who parade their control over the presidents of these two nations and both hold a considerable stake in both of these economies. They are both racist to the core and are opposed to transformation and equity because it threatens their ill-gotten wealth and control over the political fortunes of the United States and South Africa," he said.

jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za

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