The U. S. House of Representatives has recently introduced a bill calling for a reassessment of the country’s relations with South Africa, amid tensions between nations.
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor recently traveled to Washington, D. C. , as part of what appears to be an attempt to get the U. S. strategic network to understand Pretoria’s positions in key areas of divergence with Washington.
Here you will find more information about the U. S. bill, recent tensions, and the importance of cooperation between the two countries.
The U. S. -South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 6.
The bill reads: “Contrary to its stated position of non-alignment, the South African government has a history of siding with malign actors, adding Hamas, a U. S. -designated foreign terrorist organization and proxy of the Iranian regime, and continuing its “ties with the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) and the Russian Federation. “
It alleges that the African National Congress (ANC) has had ties to Hamas since 1994, when the ANC came to power.
The bill accuses members of the South African government and ANC leaders of making anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli remarks following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. Cooperation after the attack, saying it arose from Israel’s “continued illegal profession of Palestine. “
The bill documents instances in which South African leaders, Pandor, condemned Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and communicated with the leaders of Hamas and Iran.
The bill also identifies South Africa’s “strength with Russia” that “encompasses the military and political space” and the country’s interactions with the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). China and the United States are South Africa’s two largest trading partners. Africa is, in turn, Africa’s largest trading partner for both the United States and China.
U. S. President Joe Biden is expected to submit a report containing the findings of the reassessment of the dates to the House Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee within 120 days of the bill’s passage, if it passes. The bill has yet to be voted on, but it was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a voice vote last week.
Most likely not, experts say.
“I find it unlikely that this bill will pass either chamber of Congress and be signed by the president,” said Joel Samoff, a retired assistant professor at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies. Samoff’s recent studies focus on schooling and politics in Africa. , with a particular focus on South Africa.
Samoff said South Africa and the U. S. consider their relationship vital and he hoped they would seek them out. He added that he believed Pandor’s stopover in the United States was aimed at easing tensions between his country and the United States.
Samoff described the U. S. bill as a “symbolic act rather than a legislative act” submitted for signature that policymakers and lawmakers in Washington “are not satisfied that South Africa has filed a complaint with the International Court [of Justice]. “
He explained that this is due to the fact that “politics is politics” and that the two countries face political pressures to move in other directions, but on a larger scale, “dating is quite vital to it. “
Pandor traveled to Washington last week to discuss strained relations with members of the U. S. Congress.
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, Pandor said, “This almost implies that when the United States is in a specific position, South Africa has to follow it,” adding that other countries that are in the same position as South Africa might not be treated in the same way. of the same way. way. ” I don’t know if it’s because we’re Africans or for some other reason. “
He speculated that the bill’s arrival may simply be due to South Africa’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza and the fact that South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on December 29, 2023.
He noted that Washington’s “concern” that South Africa would take Israel to the ICJ was discussed in a “series of resolutions,” mentioning a bipartisan letter to Biden’s leadership signed by 200 lawmakers in January “denouncing hostile allegations of genocide made through the South. ” Africa vs. AfricaIsrael” at the ICJ.
Pandor added that the accusation contained in the recent bill that the ANC “has some form of association with Hamas” is “totally false. “
He added that the bill also addresses South Africa’s non-alignment position towards Russia and Ukraine. “Our basic underlying philosophy in foreign policy is that we seek peace, we seek negotiation. South Africa’s Freedom Charter entrusts us to seek external peace and friendship,” Pandora said.
Asked Tuesday by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace how he rates South Africa’s relations with the United States on a scale of 0 to 10, Pandor rated them “above six for the executive branch and below six for lawmakers. “
Recent incidents have strained the two countries. In May 2023, the U. S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country of supplying weapons to Russia for its war against Ukraine through a shipment connected to a sanctioned company that secretly docked at a naval base. close to the city of Cape Town.
This led to an independent inquiry led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who concluded in September 2023 that “no evidence had been uncovered” of allegations that South Africa had provided weapons to Russia. Ramaphosa said the indictment “has had a maximum damaging effect on our currency, our economy and our standing in the world; In fact, it has tarnished our image. “
In August 2023, a South African official said the country would not bow to U. S. pressure to prevent Chinese Huawei devices from entering its networks.
South Africa is the United States’ largest trading partner in Africa, with U. S. exports valued at $9. 3 billion to South Africa in 2022. About six hundred U. S. corporations operate in the country. South Africa and the United States have signed several industrial cooperation agreements.
The United States Congress passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2000. AGOA provides countries in sub-Saharan Africa with duty-free access to the United States for more than 1,800 products. The United States withdrew several countries from AGOA due to rights abuses, including Ethiopia, Mali, and Guinea, in January 2022. In October 2023, the United States announced plans to withdraw Uganda, Gabon, Niger, and the Central African Republic. These plans came into effect in January 2024. The unspoken risk of a possible abolition of AGOA also hangs over US-South African relations.
But, Samoff said, “it’s unlikely, at least in the current administration, that the United States would do anything to jeopardize AGOA. “While the rhetoric around AGOA focuses on how it makes it easier for African countries to come to the United States, it also makes the United States a preferential market for African products.
In addition to their bilateral economic relations, the two countries have worked intensively in combination in other areas, such as in their reaction to COVID-19, which included the joint publication of the Global Action Plan to Curb the Spread of the Coronavirus.
The U. S. and South Africa are also partnering on climate-related projects, such as carbon missions, according to the U. S. State Department’s website.
In addition, “the U. S. sees South Africa as a vital intermediary,” Samoff said. “During the time when the U. S. was dissatisfied with Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe, the U. S. relied heavily on South Africa as an intermediary rather than conducting its own direct interactions. with Mugabe. “
Pandor also echoed this sense of acceptance as true in his interview with Al Jazeera’s Hanna.
“We are a vital spouse to the United States of America, just as they are to us,” the South African Foreign Minister said. “So we’re going to be able to reinstate appointments and continue on the established foundation that I’ve built over many years. “