Ramaphosa set to meet Trump at G7 Summit

President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit in Canada this weekend. This will be their second engagement in a month after Ramaphosa’s recent visit to the White House.

Ramaphosa is seeking to reset the relationship with the American government and for Trump to attend the G20 summit in South Africa later this year.

The geo-political tectonic plates between South Africa and the Trumps administration are seemingly shifting in Ramaphosa’s favour.

A second meeting between the two presidents will take place at the G7 Summit, as they try and iron out political and economic differences between the two nations. At the G7 summit, Ramaphosa will once again push trade relation engagements with Trump.

“I’m hoping that when we meet the various other leaders of various countries who are part of the G7, we’ll be able to interact meaningfully with them. I’m going to have bilaterals with the Chancellor of Germany, with the Prime Minister of Canada, and, of course, I’ll also be meeting President Trump, who was who we met at the White House,”

On his recent visit to the White House, Ramaphosa has slammed suggestions by his political opponents that he was summoned by Trump.

“So many people were very critical of our going there and some were even saying we’re going kept in hand and what have you. We were not and some were even suggesting that we were summoned. We were not summoned. In my telephone conversation with President Trump two weeks earlier, I said, I want to come and see you and immediately conceded to that and later they gave us a date, so that is not summoning, it is us taking the initiative that we want to go and see him.”

Magaqa case

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa, in his capacity as South African and ANC President, bemoaned the revelations of the accused Sibusiso Ncengwa, who has pled guilty to the murder of former ANC Youth League Secretary-General Sindiso Magaqa.

In his confession, Ncengwa, who will be sentenced later this month, implicated former Umzimkhulu Mayor and ANC Deputy Provincial Secretary Mluleki Ndobe and then municipal manager Zweliphansi Skhosana as the masterminds and funders of the assassination.

“It’s very sad to be hearing revelations like these. We are very saddened. And obviously, as an organisation, as the ANC, we’ve got a lot of introspection to do, and that will be done, and that will be dealt with in due time,” Ramaphosa explains.

The President will also meet with the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Shamila Batohi, about the frustrations she has with the prosecution of cases that fail to yield the desired results.

Video: G7 Leaders Summit | President Cyril Ramaphosa to attend G7 in Canada