The South Africa-US diplomatic crisis dominated the first day of the state of the nation address debate in parliament on Tuesday.
As MPs debated the speech delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week, the recurring theme was the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump that stopped all foreign aid to South Africa. Trump claimed, without any evidence, that there was widespread confiscation of land and property owned by white people. He also cited his displeasure with the genocide case Ramaphosa’s government is pursuing at the International Criminal Court against Israel.
While the government of national unity partners reaffirmed their commitment to the coalition, MPs from different political parties touched on the threat to trade relations with the global superpower.
ActionSA’s Athol Trollip said the country cannot afford to enter into a race war nor allow those in and out of the country to incite one.
We have chosen to be friends with many pariah nations that are neither democratic nor uphold human rights, nations at war with their own people — through repressive regimes.
— Athol Trollip, ActionSA MP
He said he agreed with Ramaphosa’s remarks last week that the country would not be bullied.
But, he said, this bullying was not only by the West, as the country’s own Brics partners also wanted to dictate who could visit our country, citing the case of the Dalai Lama.
“We have chosen to be friends with many pariah nations that are neither democratic nor uphold human rights, nations at war with their own people through repressive regimes,” said Trollip.
“Conversely, we treat democratic nations — our major trading partners — with disdain and insult.”
Trollip said he had been watching with interest those he says are peddling “destructive narratives” to the US — which led to Trump issuing the executive order — now back-pedalling after realising the impact of such an order and possible further actions by his administration, such as the revocation of Agoa.
“Let it be known that the racist rhetoric so freely bandied about in this parliament and on party rally stages by the likes of the EFF, MKP and ANC has grave consequences for us,” said Trollip.
“ANC — the leaders of this GNU — your sins are catching up with you. You have prostituted yourselves to the highest bidders who grease your party wheels with no regard for the consequences. The New World Order sees which side you’ve picked, and now the chickens have come home to roost.”
EFF leader Julius Malema sent a warning to Trump and his administration that “they must not try us”.
“Speaker, we want to make it very clear that we should not be confused with a generation of cowards who can be bullied by imperial forces and power-hungry individuals intoxicated by the wealth of apartheid,” said Malema.
“The US has bullied nations before, imposed senseless and arbitrary sanctions and threatened wars. But we are a different generation. We agree with you, President, that we should not be bullied.”
He said South Africans stood on the shoulders of liberation fighters who “confronted the establishment with their very lives”, suggesting they would do the same to protect the country as they were “not cowards”.
The DA's John Steenhuisen said the ANC’s policies were largely to blame for the possible sanctions by Trump’s administration.
“And now, having made ourselves weak, we confront a new threat — the threat of US tariff barriers, being kicked out of Agoa and possibly even a sanctions regime driven by an administration that will put America’s interests ahead of ours — and make no mistake about that,” he said.
IFP MP and minister of Cogta Velenkosini Hlabisa said the developments between South Africa and the US were worrisome as they were based on falsehoods.
“The unfolding drama and the international diplomatic fallout around the Expropriation Act is deeply concerning. We condemn those who spread misinformation and work against our collective national interest to rebuild South Africa,” he said.
“Let me reiterate the IFP’s resolute support of the GNU and the GPUs.”
Steenhuisen also reaffirmed the DA’s commitment to the GNU, telling parliament that the DA joined the GNU to block the EFF and MK Party from gaining power and to turn the economy around, indicating the DA was not planning on leaving the coalition.
“South Africa today is immeasurably better for having the DA in government. And so we will continue to fight inside this government for more growth and for more jobs, and to drive the reforms that we so desperately need,” said Steenhuisen.
Another DA MP, Mathew Cuthbert, said though his party reaffirms the need to remain in the GNU, they will continue challenging the ANC on differing policy directions.
The DA, he said, was not in the GNU merely to rubber stamp the ANC’s policies under the umbrella of the national democratic revolution (NDR).
“President Ramaphosa correctly pointed out that the ANC’s electoral setback forced it to work with other parties. However, he mistakenly suggested the GNU should be the vehicle to advance the NDR,” said Cuthbert.
“It is precisely the policies and laws associated with the NDR that led voters to abandon the ANC, thereby paving the way for a multiparty government to enter the Union Buildings to deliver on the promise of growth and jobs.”
He said the reforms that the GNU ought to process would be “futile” if the ANC was adamant on pushing ahead with what he said were “destructive NDR laws” — the Expropriation Act, NHI and the transformation fund.
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