{"id":49398,"date":"2025-04-15T04:43:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T04:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/?p=49398"},"modified":"2025-04-15T04:52:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T04:52:32","slug":"rand-faces-investor-scrutiny-as-us-snub-of-envoy-jonas-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/builder\/rand-faces-investor-scrutiny-as-us-snub-of-envoy-jonas-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand faces investor scrutiny as US snub of envoy Jonas looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post<\/a> was originally published on this site<\/a><\/p>

<\/p>\n

South African investors will be closely monitoring potential turbulence in the South African rand on Tuesday following reports that the White House could reject South Africa\u2019s newly appointed special envoy to the United States, former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas.<\/p>\n

A potential diplomatic snub, hot on the heels of the expulsion of South Africa\u2019s former ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, in March for controversial remarks, threatens to deepen the rift between Pretoria and Washington, heightening uncertainty for rand-denominated assets.<\/p>\n

On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Jonas as South Africa\u2019s special envoy to the US, tasked with advancing diplomatic, trade, and bilateral priorities. Ramaphosa underscored the \u201chistorical and strategic\u201d relationship between the two nations, and highlighted the importance of mutual respect and sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\n

South Africa Sends Special Envoy to U.S. Who Called Trump \u2018Racist,\u2019 \u2018Homophobe\u2019 https:\/\/t.co\/e9H18MXIkS<\/a> via @BreitbartNews<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) April 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, US news outlet Breitbart News<\/a> reported early Tuesday that Jonas is unlikely to be welcomed by the Trump administration. Citing a 2020 speech to the Ahmad Kathrada Foundation, Breitbart highlighted Jonas\u2019s description of President Donald Trump as a \u201cracist,\u201d \u201chomophobe,\u201d and \u201cnarcissistic right-winger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breitbart News<\/a> has close ties to the White House via senior editor Joel Pollok who was recently in the running to become the ambassador to South Africa. However, Trump has named conservative media critic and pro-Israel commentator Leo Brent Bozell III as ambassador to South Africa.<\/p>\n

Breitbart noted that Jonas’s globalist worldview fundamentally clashes with the current US administration’s stance, making him an unsuitable choice for rebuilding ties.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“I hereby announce the appointment of Mr Mcebisi Jonas as my Special Envoy to the USA, serving as the official representative of the President and the Government of South Africa.”<\/p>\n

Statement by President @CyrilRamaphosa<\/a> on the appointment of his Special Envoy to the US\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/xxUJfvmf9h<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Presidency \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 (@PresidencyZA) April 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Breitbart further noted,” An envoy who insulted the President of the United States <\/span>\u2014<\/span> as Trump was in November 2020, and is once again today <\/span>\u2014<\/span> does not seem like a good choice for rebuilding a \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with the United States, especially given that South Africa\u2019s ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled in March for making comparably slanderous remarks about President Trump.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The rand, which rallied below the critical R19 mark against the US dollar on Monday amid easing fears over the Government of National Unity\u2019s stability, now faces renewed pressure.<\/p>\n

Escalating US-SA tensions are likely to fuel investor caution, as markets remain highly sensitive to geopolitical risks. A deteriorating relationship with the US could disrupt trade flows, deter foreign direct investment, and undermine South Africa\u2019s economic recovery, all of which are critical to rand stability.<\/p>\n

Last week Wednesday the rand was in freefall to the dollar amid global market uncertainty and fell close to the critical R20 against the dollar mark. It recovered after Trump announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

BUSINESS REPORT<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African investors will be closely monitoring potential turbulence in the South African rand on Tuesday following reports that the White House could reject South Africa\u2019s newly appointed special envoy to the United States, former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas.A potential diplomatic snub, hot on the heels of the expulsion of South Africa\u2019s former ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, in March for controversial remarks, threatens to deepen the rift between Pretoria and Washington, heightening uncertainty for rand-denominated assets.On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Jonas as South Africa\u2019s special envoy to the US, tasked with advancing diplomatic, trade, and bilateral priorities. Ramaphosa underscored the \u201chistorical and strategic\u201d relationship between the two nations, and highlighted the importance of mutual respect and sovereignty.South Africa Sends Special Envoy to U.S. Who Called Trump \u2018Racist,\u2019 \u2018Homophobe\u2019 https:\/\/t.co\/e9H18MXIkS via @BreitbartNews\u2014 Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) April 15, 2025 However, US news outlet Breitbart News reported early Tuesday that Jonas is unlikely to be welcomed by the Trump administration. Citing a 2020 speech to the Ahmad Kathrada Foundation, Breitbart highlighted Jonas\u2019s description of President Donald Trump as a \u201cracist,\u201d \u201chomophobe,\u201d and \u201cnarcissistic right-winger.\u201dBreitbart News has close ties to the White House via senior editor Joel Pollok who was recently in the running to become the ambassador to South Africa. However, Trump has named conservative media critic and pro-Israel commentator Leo Brent Bozell III as ambassador to South Africa.Breitbart noted that Jonas’s globalist worldview fundamentally clashes with the current US administration’s stance, making him an unsuitable choice for rebuilding ties.”I hereby announce the appointment of Mr Mcebisi Jonas as my Special Envoy to the USA, serving as the official representative of the President and the Government of South Africa.”Statement by President @CyrilRamaphosa on the appointment of his Special Envoy to the US\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/xxUJfvmf9h\u2014 The Presidency \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 (@PresidencyZA) April 14, 2025 Breitbart further noted,” An envoy who insulted the President of the United States\u00a0\u2014\u00a0as Trump was in November 2020, and is once again today\u00a0\u2014\u00a0does not seem like a good choice for rebuilding a \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with the United States, especially given that South Africa\u2019s ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled in March for making comparably slanderous remarks about President Trump.”The rand, which rallied below the critical R19 mark against the US dollar on Monday amid easing fears over the Government of National Unity\u2019s stability, now faces renewed pressure.Escalating US-SA tensions are likely to fuel investor caution, as markets remain highly sensitive to geopolitical risks. A deteriorating relationship with the US could disrupt trade flows, deter foreign direct investment, and undermine South Africa\u2019s economic recovery, all of which are critical to rand stability.Last week Wednesday the rand was in freefall to the dollar amid global market uncertainty and fell close to the critical R20 against the dollar mark. It recovered after\u00a0Trump announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs.BUSINESS REPORT<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-builder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49400,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49398\/revisions\/49400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}