The Presidency has slammed the DA for its continued ‘harassment’ of South Africa’s Special Envoy to the U.S., Mcebisi Jonas, accusing the party of spreading disinformation on matters of international relations and diplomacy.

This is after the DA released a statement yesterday claiming that President Cyril Ramaphosa has, for months, been aware that Jonas is not welcome in Washington D.C., as the U.S. denied him a diplomatic visa back in May 2025.

The DA’s spokesperson on International Relations & Cooperation, Emma Louise Powell, says senior sources in the U.S. Administration confirmed to her that the U.S. Government has formally rejected Jonas’s credentials and has informed the Presidency that he would not be recognised as South Africa’s official interlocutor.

“Despite these clear and repeated communications, the Presidency continued to mislead the public by insisting that Jonas remained the President’s special envoy to North America, responsible for leading the charge in repairing bilateral relations between our two countries.”

Powell went on to say the Presidency owes South Africans a full and honest explanation as to how it can justify having “doubled down on the appointment of a rapporteur whose credentials have been officially rejected by the host government.”

“In the wake of Ambassador Rasool’s disgraced expulsion from the United States, it has become undeniable that the President is now more concerned with saving face than with safeguarding the livelihoods of South African businesses and workers who will ultimately pay the price for his inaction.”

The Presidency hit back, condemning the DA’s latest effort to embarrass Jonas.

Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the DA has sought to add sensationalism to its claim by suggesting President Ramaphosa and Jonas face a crisis because of the United States’ pending implementation of trade tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.

“The facts around this matter include the reality that Special Envoys do not present diplomatic credentials to host countries in the way designated Heads of Mission or other diplomats are. While envoys are not required to account publicly for the work they undertake, the President’s own accounts of his performance include elements facilitated by envoys.”

The DA is encroaching on the President’s area of responsibility. They have no business in the appointment or work of envoys, including that of Mr Jonas. Envoys are there to support the work of the President. https://t.co/UDKqrr0pWj

— Vincent Magwenya 🇿🇦 (@SpokespersonRSA) July 14, 2025

Magwenya adds that Jonas’s outreach does not in any way supersede the leading role played by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in trade negotiations with the United States, or in diplomatic relations.

“Jonas has, however, played an important role in working with the DTIC to develop the trade proposals in which South Africa is currently engaging the United States in good faith and with the expectation of mutually beneficial terms. Similarly, he has been assisting DIRCO in government’s efforts to reset diplomatic relations and all areas of cooperation between South Africa and the United States.”

Magwenya says that while these processes are underway, Ramaphosa has not needed Jonas to visit the United States on urgent business.

“The Presidency is therefore concerned about the Democratic Alliance’s persistent campaign against South Africa’s national interest and its posture of trying to embarrass and belittle our country and in this specific circumstance, Mr Jonas. This campaign has its origins in a Democratic Alliance visit to the United States earlier this year, to advance an ideological agenda rather than our national interest. The DA has positioned itself as part of a right-wing nexus that seeks to use a foreign state to effect changes to democratically developed national policies in our own country.”

The Presidency says if the DA were to succeed in undermining South Africa’s relations with various nations or institutions, the party will harm the viability of businesses and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of South Africans who work in sectors that depend on the expansion of our trade relations with the world.