Post #534

Why Is South Africa’s Minister Unhappy — and Why Does It Matter? 🔥 At a closed-door meeting during Indaba Mining Week, South Africa’s Minister of Resources, Gwede Mantashe, sharply criticized his counterpart from the DRC — echoing the same frustrations we’ve expressed in our channel about Congo’s deal with Washington. But there's more to it than just one minister’s criticism. It signals aparadigm shift of South Africa-DRC relations. Just 5 days ago, South Africa suddenly withdrew its troops from the UN MONUSCO mission in the DRC. The minister’s words clarify why: Pretoria believes Kinshasa is ignoring pan-African solidarity and undermining South Africa's interests with its actions. 🔸 Mantashe suggested that the DRC had been exempted from the Trump administration’s high import tariffs because of the critical minerals deal, accusing this of enabling a US "divide and conquer" strategy in Africa. Last year, the US imposed a 10% tariff on DRC imports — far less than the punitive 30% slapped on South Africa. The South African minister has long been staunchly anti-American — but while his hostility toward the US stayed within his administrative domain, his grievances toward the DRC now seem to correspond to the new main narratives of South African policy toward Kinshasa. Amid this row, it is worth noting that the South African contingent in MONUSCO didn’t do much to help the DRC with its crises either, spending most of its time in the southern part of the country, far from the fighting. ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow