[imagesource: X/@SAgovnews]

Despite the political upheaval left in US President Joe Biden’s wake, he took some time to congratulate our President Cyril Ramaphosa on winning a new term, expressing a keen interest in devoting time to thawing the complicated relationship between the two countries.

The 81-year-old president spoke by telephone to Ramaphosa on the same day that the first member of his Democratic Party in Congress called for him to step aside after a shaky debate performance with Donald Trump that worsened concern about his age.

The White House said Biden tipped his hat to Ramaphosa and discussed “areas of future partnership, including leadership in the G20,” the club of major economies that South Africa will head next year when Biden hopes to be starting his own second term.

“Together, the United States and South Africa are committed to deepening our cooperation and advancing our shared interests,” a statement said.

It added that the areas to work together on include “growing economic prosperity, combating the climate crisis, strengthening health systems and ensuring that democracy delivers for all our people.”

The call also comes after some rocky relations between SA and the US regarding the war between Israel and Palestine. At some point, the US threatened to break up with SA for leading a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza in its war in response to the October 7 Hamas attack.

Even before the war in Gaza, America was becoming uneasy by SA’s refusal to join international pressure against Russia to thwart the war against Ukraine.

Last year, the US ambassador in South Africa publicly accused the country of supplying weapons to a Russian cargo ship to be used in the Ukraine invasion, allegations he took back after anger in Pretoria.

Well, now that SA has a government of national unity, perhaps some previously unattainable Ubuntu will be felt all around.