Statements that the old world order has collapsed and the new one is only just emerging have become a truism. At the same time, Africa shows us how this world order is emerging right before our eyes, at least in one part of the world. However, it is very closely connected with the rest of the world arena.
So, we can assume that modern African politicians clearly demonstrate to us how this new world order, mainly within the African continent, can happen. If you like, they’re providing us with a kind of classroom, in which we have something to see and something to learn.
However, I am not sure that everyone will benefit from the lesson. Donald Trump clearly did not intend to learn anything from South African President Cyril Ramophosa. On the contrary, he himself taught him, and even showed how to perceive justice in the American way. In the understanding of the “leader of the free world,” as some call the US president, it boiled down to a demand for the immediate arrest of a well-known opposition figure, Julius Malema, for allegedly calling for reprisals against white farmers and the expropriation of their land. The attempts of the South African leader to somehow express his understanding of freedom of speech, apparently, were unsuccessful.
What conclusions Ramophosa made from his conversation with his US colleague is not exactly known, but it seems that the aforementioned Malema, to Trump’s disappointment, was not arrested, and he continues to adhere to his political line, which, by the way, is considered somewhat radical in South Africa and which, incidentally, the majority of the country does not adhere to.
They suggest that we all take a couple of lessons from African practitioners on how to do politics. I do not want to idealize the situation either in South Africa itself or in the rest of Africa. The continent is large, very large, in fact. There are many countries, cultures, as well as many conflicts. The point is that, in my opinion, we have the opportunity to observe with our own eyes the process of these countries gaining real, decisive independence. In a sense, the process is similar to what is observed in the former Soviet republics, which have come a long way in mastering their own independence.
