A senior government delegation led by director-general of the department of international relations & co-operation, Zane Dangor, has met senior White House officials, state house and treasury members in Washington to discuss bilateral issues.
This was the first meeting between the SA government and members of the US administration since the expulsion of former SA ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool in March.
In a statement following the weeklong visit, the department of international relations & co-operation said the Dangor delegation met the US’s national security council’s Africa director, acting assistant secretary of state for African affairs, as well as treasury department representatives.
“The delegation directly addressed the perception that the SA government’s policies are designed to violate the human rights of minorities in post-apartheid SA, the department said.
“Among the issues addressed was the matter of how the Expropriation Act’s nil compensation clause is not designed to facilitate unlawful land seizures and undermine property investment,” it said.
SA’s Expropriation Act has been used by US President Donald Trump as the basis for an executive order halting US funding to SA and providing humanitarian assistance to a grouping of white Afrikaners who claim they are facing racial discrimination in SA.
Trump has also been critical of SA’s decision to take Israel to the International Criminal Court over genocide claims relating to the war in Gaza.
The SA government has pushed back against Trump’s moves while keeping diplomatic channels open for engagement.
“During the cordial discussions, the senior officials addressed misconceptions on what has been presented by some as race laws designed to undermine minority rights in SA. To this end, the senior officials presented information, which highlights the persuasive racial and structural inequality that continues to divide SA in all areas of the nation,” the department said.
“The post-apartheid administration is constitutionally mandated to correct the injustices of the past. These initiatives are consistent with the efforts to ensure that post-apartheid SA entrenches human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms, nonracialism, non-sexism and the supremacy of our constitution and the rule of law,” it said.
Despite the tension, the government still valued diplomatic and trade relations with Washington as its second-largest trading partner behind China, the department said.
Strategy
Business Day previously reported that SA was devising a government-wide strategy to navigate the Trump administration’s tit-for-tat approach to global trade, and as a pre-emptive measure against an expected expulsion from preferential access to US markets through the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa).
“A clear lesson from the latest US actions is that the more diversified your trading partners are, the more resilient you are to shocks from any one of them,” Business Leadership SA CEO Busi Mavuso said.
SA needed to strengthen its trade ties with other countries in the light of the 25% tariffs imposed by the US on foreign-manufactured vehicles, Mavuso said.
Though SA’s automotive sector enjoys preferential access to US markets through Agoa, the executive order signed by Trump last week includes automotive and car components manufactured in SA.
“We must expect that Agoa will come to an end in September, when the current programme is set to expire. The end of Agoa was set to damage our auto exports, and it will damage other parts of our trade with the US, particularly agricultural goods. Overall, Agoa covers a relatively small component of our total export basket to the US, which is dominated by raw materials, but it will be a challenge for certain industries,” Mavuso said.
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