By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives for a full review of relations between Washington and Pretoria, following the International Court of Justice ruling.
South Africa lodged an application with the ICJ in December, arguing that Israel was violating the UN Convention on Genocide and seeking urgent measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza.
The court ordered Israel to take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza strip.
The legislation will still need to be discussed and passed by congress.
It states that not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, US President Joe Biden in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, shall certify to the appropriate congressional committees and release publicly an unclassified determination explicitly stating whether South Africa has engaged in activities that undermine United States national security or foreign policy interests.
It further states that the US government must provide an unclassified report submitted to the appropriate congressional committees justifying the determination upon its certificate.
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the US Congress. It consists of 435 members who are elected for terms of two years, with the Republicans currently enjoying a majority.
The US is one of South Africa’s biggest trade partners, with the US government through its African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) providing SA with duty-free access to the US market for over 1,800 products. A repeal of AGOA could lead to a higher cost of business for businesses who trade with the US, while also much needed aid in HIV/AIDS programmes – through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), could also come under jeopardy.
The proposed legislation, which is titled the US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act, says that the actions of the governing African National Congress (ANC), were “inconsistent with its publicly stated policy of non-alignment in international affairs”.
“In contrast to its stated stance of non-alignment, the SA Government has a history of siding with malign actors, including Hamas, a US designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and a proxy of the Iranian regime, and continues to pursue closer ties with the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation,” said the proposed legislation.
There is specific mention of the Russian cargo ship Lady R, which is under US sanctions, “docking and transferring arms” at the naval base in Simon’s Town in December 2022.
A South African investigation into the incident found that the cargo of the vessel was equipment for the SA National Defence Force that had already been purchased from a company in Saudi Arabia in 2018.
The legislation also mentions the joint naval exercises that South Africa held in Durban between 17 and 27 February with Russia and China, on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The legislation accused Pretoria of supporting Hamas since 1994 and of “taking a hardline stance of consistently accusing Israel of practising apartheid”.
They accused SA government and ANC leaders of “blaming Israel for provoking the attack” on October 7th and said they had made “a variety of antisemitic and anti-Israel-related statements”.
International relations and cooperation minister (Dirco) Naledi Pandor has raised concern over the legislation received by the US congress for a full review of its ties to South Africa.
“I believe South Africa offers quality products to the US market and I wish that relationship to grow. We have different views on many foreign policy matters but as a democracy, we affirm the sovereign right of states to frame their foreign policy. I am concerned at the bill drafters attempt to associate our country with terrorism and the atrocious attack against civilians in Israel,” she said.
Pandor added that it was well known that South Africa condemned the killing of civilians and hostage-taking.
“Our government would encourage a more informed and balanced perspective and will continue to work at strengthening our relationship.”
It is by no means clear that this bill would pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law or even that the House would vote on it. Republicans, who are generally more hostile to South Africa control the House but Democrats control the Senate and would be more likely to reject the bill to avoid embarrassing and tying the hands of the Biden administration.