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South African Billionaire Patrice Motsepe Tells Trump ‘Africa Loves You’. Twitter Disagrees

South African Billionaire Patrice Motsepe Tells Trump ‘Africa Loves You’. Twitter Disagrees

Patrice Motsepe
During the World Economic Forum in Davos, South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe told U.S. President Donald Trump that Africa loves him. South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe. Image: Africa Rainbow Minerals

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe told U.S. President Donald Trump that “Africa loves you” during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

“Africa loves America. Africa loves you. It’s very, very important. We want America to do well. We want you to do well. The success of America is the success of the rest of the world,” Motsepe told Trump according to a video posted on Twitter

The comment prompted a barrage of tweets disagreeing with the mining magnate who is worth an estimated $2.6 billion.

Dikgale Mohlodi found it necessary to clarify something when he tweeted: “Disclaimer: the views of Mr. Patrice Motsepe on Africa loving Donald Trump are his, and his alone.”

Nathi Sithole wrote, “In the absence of a President in this country we now have Patrice Motsepe addressing the world on our behalf, lying about how we love racists like Donald Trump, how did we get ourselves here?”

@Prince_S_A sarcastically tweeted an image of Motsepe with the words, “Meet Mr Patrice Motsepe, Africa’s Spokesperson.”

In response to the tweet with the video of Motsepe talking to Trump, Ndondo Mondli wrote: “Hell no Africans don’t love Trump!!!”

IMpintshi KaJehova said: “Motsepe is a country’s breadwinner. If he says we love Trump, we love him. Simple.”

Motsepe is South Africa’s first Black billionaire. He founded African Rainbow Minerals, which mines and processes iron, manganese, chrome, platinum, copper, nickel, coal and gold.

Motsepe also has a stake in financial service provider and insurance firm Sanlam and owns the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club in Pretoria, South Africa. He also has business interests in telecoms and financial services.

Motsepe’s comments in Davos caused a stir as President Trump is a divisive figure who has made it clear that he has little regard for Africa.

Trump referred to countries from the continent as “shithole countries” during a closed-door meeting with congressional leaders in January 2018.

Trump denied that he used that word in the meeting, which was first reported by The Washington Post and other outlets before Democratic senator Dick Durbin confirmed that the president had said the remarks.

Late-night TV host Trevor Noah famously introduced himself as being a native of “South Shithole” during a “Daily Show” episode in 2018.

In reference to Trump’s alleged comments, Noah said: “Guys, I don’t know how to break this to you, but I think the president might be racist. Personally, as someone from South Shithole, I’m offended.”

The fact that Trump has not visited Africa during his time in office confirms that Africa is not a priority.

Motsepe’s actions and words were likely aimed at building a rapport with Trump and getting into his good books, according to the DailyMaverick.

The DailyMaverick argues that Motsepe, “like many other global leaders, has clocked on to the fact that Trump is an egotist and the quickest way into his good graces is to fawn on him.”

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In 2019, the U.S. government cut important health programs to Africa, including annulling $252 million in funding for Ebola containment and prevention. 

Trump also threatened cuts to AIDS funding in Africa through the President’s Executive Plan for AIDS Relief fund but Congress rejected the cuts.

The White House has also called for cuts to global foreign aid, which could impact Africa negatively. 

https://twitter.com/ImpintshiK/status/1220610406206574594