Failure to fill the strategic position of United States ambassador to South Africa – vacant since the departure of Patrick Gaspard whose contract was not renewed a year ago by President Donald Trump – points to Washington’s very low regard for South Africa and the African continent.

This was the view of Wits University international relations visiting professor John Stremlau, who attended the historic Nelson Mandela lecture yesterday delivered by former US president Barack Obama at the Wanderers Stadium.

“Trump cares little about Africa,” said Stremlau.

African leaders, he said, “along with everyone else interested in US-Africa relations – waited for months for the Trump administration to explain its Africa policy… and we aren’t there yet.”

“Trump has called on African companies to invest in the US. Then, shifting to security cooperation, he urged Africans to help defeat Islamist extremists and the threat from North Korea,” said Stremlau.

Trump’s inaugural address to the UN General Assembly said “little about Africa – barely one paragraph towards the end. One sentence praised African Union and UN-led peacekeeping missions for ‘invaluable contributions in stabilising conflicts in Africa’.”

Trump is also remembered for having once described Africa as being host to many “sh*thole countries” – something that raised the ire of many African leaders.

Despite this year hosting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House, Trump never retracted the statement that became a nightmare for US diplomats.

Gaspard, an Obama appointee, is known for having deplored Trump’s constant attacks on America’s fundamental values.

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