WHERE WAS TRUMP? Ambushing Ramaphosa By Austin Isikhuemen

In a week of stark diplomatic theater, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa found himself in the eye of a storm during a high-profile visit to Washington. What was meant to be a step toward rebuilding strained relations with the United States under Donald Trump’s administration instead became a global spectacle of confrontation, aired like a public performance review, with the world watching.
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Back home, Ramaphosa’s measured demeanor earned him praise for his composure, even as critics questioned his restraint in the face of Trump’s provocations. The controversy ignited fierce debate online, drawing reactions from across the political spectrum and reawakening long-standing tensions about race, colonialism, and global power dynamics.
Amid the digital uproar, commentator and poet Austin Isikhuemen offers a searing interpretation of the moment, delving deep into history, hypocrisy, and the ongoing legacy of empire.
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His poem, “Where Was Trump? Ambushing Ramaphosa,” is not merely about a diplomatic spat, but a wider interrogation of silence, complicity, and selective outrage. Here is the full poem below:
The Boers, the ancestors of yore
Came from where they came from
Looking for succour and clement milieu
Where was Trump?
Birthed in Africa’s Southern tip
Drove out and killed the natives
Brave Shaka Zulu gave them hell
But gun advantage trumped assegais
Apparthiedom, the most inhuman
Separated God’s own children
Used skin colour as evil sort code
Where was Trump?
Didn’t Trump’s own America
The “bastion of democracy” indeed
The one they call God’s own country
“Constructively” engage the oppressors?
Melanin decided who you could love
Where you lived and worked
Whether you scavenged or died
Where was Trump?
Just a whimper from Malema
Calling for justice on their lands
Long seized by apartheid priests
Buzzard berserk in AmerIndian territory
Killing is evil, so is lying with aplomb!
Coating racist lies in such gaudy presentation?
Passing patriot Malema off as SA President?
Where is Trump headed?
Lost to him the import of hospitality
Unaware of the dictates of diplomacy
Not even etiquette and good manners?
Egged on by a vain Vice full of vice
Great that Cyril serenaded Godot well
With that shot aboard the gift aircraft
The world aghast at the new bully game
Trump achieved what with this buffoonery?
Open same doors to Ukrainians
Faced with annihilation at home
To Borno IDPs killed daily by Boko Haramites
Not white enough or the sin of being black?
22nd May, 2025.
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