Source: ‘SA being unjustly punished by the US’ | The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
SOUTH AFRICA is being unjustly punished by the US for acting in its own national interest, in the same way Zimbabwe was slapped with sanctions for embarking on the historic Land Reform Programme, President Mnangagwa has said.
Speaking to journalists at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport yesterday evening soon after his return from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he was attending the joint SADC-East African Community (EAC) summit on the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the President said Harare and Pretoria have a shared history of resilience to foreign pressure.
“Both South Africa and Zimbabwe are seasoned boys in the struggle for independence, freedom and that the imperialists can do what they do.
“We shall pursue what we think is best for our countries.
“South Africa has been punished not for doing anything against any country, but doing what they think is best for themselves. That was the case with Zimbabwe.”
South Africa yesterday reiterated its commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to its growing rift with the United States after Washington on Friday decided to cut assistance and aid to Pretoria, citing the recently legislated Expropriation Act, which it claims is discriminatory against “ethnic minority Afrikaners”.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa said the foundational premise of the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump lacked factual accuracy.
“We are concerned by what seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation. It is disappointing to observe that such narratives seem to have found favour among decision-makers in the United States of America,” reads the statement released yesterday.
The US not only decided to freeze aid and assistance to SA, but also made provisions to prioritise “humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Programme, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination”.
The move has, however, been described by Pretoria as ironic and counterintuitive.
“It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the US from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship,” adds the statement.
“We reiterate that South Africa remains committed to finding diplomatic solutions to any misunderstandings or disputes.”
New land expropriation law
The US executive order cites concerns over SA’s Expropriation Act, signed into law on January 23, which it says is designed to enable the seizure of “ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation”.
Washington argues that the Act is part of broader policies that allegedly discriminate against the Afrikaner minority in employment, education and business.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously defended the country’s land policies, arguing that his government had not confiscated any land and the new law was aimed at ensuring equitable public access to land.
The law allows land expropriation without compensation under specific circumstances.
Land ownership has long been a contentious issue in South Africa, with most private farmland owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the racist system of apartheid.
There have been continuous calls for the government to embark on land reform and deal with the past injustices of racial segregation.
South Africa’s new law allows for expropriation without compensation only in circumstances where it is “just and equitable and in the public interest” to do so.
This includes cases where the property is not being used and there is no intention to either develop or make money from it, or when it poses a risk to people.
At the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe was similarly sanctioned by the US under the guise of promoting human rights and democracy when it was actually being punished for embarking on the Fast-Track Land Reform Programme.
Additionally, the Trump administration’s executive order criticises South Africa for its foreign policy positions, including accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and strengthening ties with Iran in military and commercial affairs.
The US government claims these actions undermine its foreign policy and pose a national security risk to America and its allies.
Reads the order in part: “In addition, South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military and nuclear arrangements.
“The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners and our interests.”
President Trump ordered the immediate suspension of all US foreign aid and assistance to South Africa unless explicitly authorised by an agency head.
He also ordered the US Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a plan for resettling Afrikaners in the US through the Refugee Admissions Programme, a federal initiative that identifies and resettles refugees who face persecution based on race, religion, nationality and political opinion.
The order states that South Africa must reverse these policies before the US considers restoring aid.
Growing diplomatic tensions
During President Trump’s first term between 2017 and 2021, his policies towards South Africa were generally marked by limited diplomatic engagement and trade tensions.
In August 2018, he tweeted that he had asked his then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large-scale killing of farmers”.
This tweet followed a report by an American news channel — Fox News — alleging that the South African government was seizing land from white farmers without compensation.
Pretoria dismissed the claims, calling them misinformed and an attempt to sow racial divisions.
Trade tensions between the two countries also arose when Trump threatened to review South Africa’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) benefits owing to disagreements over US poultry and meat imports.
AGOA allows duty-free exports to the US.
In 2020, South Africa banned US travellers due to Covid-19, further straining ties.
Relations between the two countries were to deteriorate further during the Joe Biden administration.
Washington and Pretoria clashed publicly after the latter refused to condemn Russia over the Ukraine war, electing to maintain a neutral stance and calling for peace talks.
The US and its Western allies expected South Africa to align with them, but Pretoria instead abstained from United Nations votes condemning Russia’s role in the war.
South Africa also criticised Western sanctions on Russia and NATO’s role in the conflict and also hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Pretoria in January 2023.
The biggest flashpoint came in May 2023, when the US accused South Africa of secretly supplying weapons to Russia.
US Ambassador to South Africa Mr Reuben Brigety claimed a Russian cargo ship, Lady R, was loaded with arms at the Simon’s Town naval base near Cape Town.
The US warned that this violated South Africa’s supposed neutrality and could lead to trade consequences.
South Africa denied the claim and an official inquiry that was led by a retired judge later cleared the government of wrongdoing, but tensions remained high.
Earlier in the same year, South Africa had conducted joint naval exercises with Russia and China off its coast around the time the West was marking the one-year anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, angering Washington.
The US saw this as a direct challenge to Western-led efforts to isolate Russia and threatened to review South Africa’s access to AGOA.
South Africa, however, defended the drills, saying it had the sovereign right to engage in military cooperation with different global powers.
Russia is historically an ally of SA as it supported the ANC in its struggle against the racist apartheid government.
Taking Israel to task
In January last year, South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel at the ICJ over its war on Gaza.
The US, a strong ally of Israel, strongly opposed this move.
South Africa’s case gained international attention, especially when the ICJ ruled that Israel must take measures to prevent genocide.
There was a furious diplomatic backlash, as the US saw it as an attack on Israel and aiding Hamas’ narrative.
Some US lawmakers called for cutting of South Africa’s AGOA trade benefits.
These growing ideological and geopolitical differences have put South Africa at odds with Washington, culminating in President Trump’s executive order last week.
On Thursday, before Washington publicised President Trump’s executive order, President Ramaphosa appeared to respond to threats of US action, saying in his annual State of the Nation address that his country would “not be bullied”.
“We are witnessing the rise of nationalism and protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests and the decline of common cause,” President Ramaphosa told Parliament in Cape Town.
“This is the world that we, as a developing economy, must now navigate.
“But we are not daunted. We will not be deterred.
“We are a resilient people. We will not be bullied.
“We will stand together as a united nation and we will speak with one voice in defence of our national interests, our sovereignty and our constitutional democracy.”
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