SA is in US’s crosshairs again

The latest attempt by US congressmen to galvanise the US administration into taking action against SA highlights, once again, the delicate balancing act that the government has to maintain between remaining steadfast to its principles (or loyal to its allies — whichever way one sees it) and keeping its major trading and investment partners on side.

In 2023, US Democratic senator Chris Coons drafted a bill calling for an immediate review of SA’s participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows duty-free access to some products from Africa into the US market. SA was not excluded in the end, but this required intense lobbying in Washington by SA government ministers and officials.

Last week, Republican John James and Democrat Jared Moskowitz introduced a bill into Congress — the US-SA Bilateral Relations Review Act — which would require the US administration to conduct a comprehensive review of that country’s relations with SA because of what the congressmen said was SA’s siding with “malign actors” on the international stage, such as Hamas, Russia and China. These, they said, threatened security and foreign policy interests.

SA’s department of international relations & co-operation is dismissive of the bill, saying it will not go anywhere and the US government does not share the views of the bill’s drafters. Minister Naledi Pandor affirmed SA’s sovereign right to determine its own foreign policy. That might well be so — only time will tell — but the spotlight on SA’s controversial international relations at the heart of US Congress debate is undesirable and threatens to rock the delicate balance that SA must maintain.