Bozell hands olive branch to Ramaphosa

It was fascinating to see the transformation of Leo Brent Bozell III from MAGA (Make America Great Again) political hothead into the balanced, conciliatory diplomat he could be as the new United States ambassador to South Africa.

In handing over his credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa, he was effusive about South Africa. People had told him, he said, that he would fall in love with the country – and he had.

Plenty of us told you and your White House, Mr Ambassador, that there was no “white genocide” happening in this country.

Now that your boots are “on the ground”, you should see the truth in that, too.

Bozell was careful to avoid genocide and other contentious issues, perhaps because, even before his official start date, he had already riled Union Buildings by speaking at a right-wing conference about the Kill the Boer song and, effectively saying he didn’t give a damn that our local courts have ruled it not illegal.

Yesterday, he was careful to underline his respect for our judiciary, pointing out in a nicely diplomatic underhanded compliment that our courts are probably the part of our society which is working best…

It was interesting, given the vitriol expressed against Ramaphosa by US MAGA-heads and local right-wingers, that Bozell took the time to note the role that our president played in shaping our constitution… and the fact that one of the inspirations was the US constitution.

Ironically, his boss, Donald Trump, is proposing to drastically change the constitutional rules on US citizenship to remove the right to citizenship from those born in the US to undocumented parents.

That may well inspire more of our extreme politicians… who knows?

Bozell and Ramaphosa definitely lit the pipe of peace yesterday and there is now hope we can agree to disagree and still have a mutually beneficial relationship.