While Donald Trump is at the head of the pack of global strongman leaders, President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed South Africa firmly in the camp of the diminishing progressive world.

Last week, in Davos, President Cyril Ramaphosa set out a G20 agenda that supports more muscular measures to address climate change and speaks for diversity and a cooperative world.

This is in sharp contrast to the Trump doctrine that has emerged in the past week. US President Donald Trump has dug in against climate change mitigation and pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement, the global plan to bring down emissions.

He has unleashed what commentators call the "animal spirits" of Silicon Valley. He promises a presidency that is more strongman than cooperative and has set his face against diversity.

The US government will recognise only two genders, and the signals Trump sent have seen many US blue chips drop their DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and ESG (environmental, social and governance) plans.

In Davos, speaking as G20 chairperson, Ramaphosa set out a tangential agenda.

"As we confront the challenges of the 21st century -- from climate change to pandemics, from poverty to terrorism, from migration to artificial intelligence -- we are again called upon to harness that most powerful and that most enduring of human attributes:...