The United States Senate has introduced a new bill seeking to overhaul Washington’s relationship with South Africa, impose sanctions on ruling party officials, and terminate Pretoria’s access to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act, tabled on 15 September by Republican Senator John Kennedy, mirrors but also expands on a similar bill already under consideration in the House of Representatives, introduced earlier this year by Congressman Ronnie Jackson.
Both pieces of legislation call for a comprehensive review of US-South Africa ties and propose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against African National Congress (ANC) officials deemed complicit in corruption or rights abuses. However, the Senate bill goes further by explicitly demanding South Africa’s removal from AGOA, a trade framework that provides duty-free access to US markets for qualifying African states.
“America’s foreign policy should always put American interests first. The South African government has chosen to cosy up to Russia and China while making shameful, antisemitic attacks against our ally Israel,” Kennedy said in a statement. He accused Pretoria of undermining US security by aligning with adversaries, pointing to joint naval drills with Russia and China and its ties to Hamas.
Kennedy also criticized the ANC’s “chronic mismanagement” of the country and singled out past officials such as former ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, who once described Donald Trump as a “supremacist.”
Analysts say the parallel progress of bills in both houses of Congress signals a more serious push against South Africa than in the past. US political commentator Joel Pollak told BizNews that while many proposals in Congress never advance, the emergence of companion bills suggests “a serious effort underway to build support not just in one house, but in both.”
“This now looks like it’s moving toward an actual foreign policy step taken by the government of the United States,” Pollak said, noting growing bipartisan frustration with South Africa’s “foreign policy drift.” While Republicans often cite ANC-led economic policies such as Black Economic Empowerment and land expropriation, Democrats have increasingly expressed unease over Pretoria’s closeness with Russia, China, and Hamas.
Even so, Pollak cautioned that the legislative path remains uncertain. Both chambers must pass identical versions of the bill before it can be sent to the president for signature, a process that has derailed similar efforts in the past. A 2016 Republican-led House bill stalled in a Democrat-controlled Senate.
This time, however, Republicans control both houses of Congress, giving the initiative more momentum. The Jackson bill has already been discussed at subcommittee level in the House, while Kennedy’s Senate version awaits committee debate.
If passed, the legislation could dramatically reshape US-South Africa relations, stripping Pretoria of key trade benefits and targeting ANC officials with sanctions at a time when Washington has already signalled frustration with South Africa’s alignment with Moscow and Beijing.
Source – businesstech
