Strained US-SA relations: What’s really at the crux of it?

Bhekisisa Mncube | Strained US-SA relations: What's really at the crux of it?

 OPINION – Right of Reply

17 February 2025

Tony Leon's ahistorical claim that the US-South Africa standoff stems from ANC foreign policy masks his intellectual shallowness writes Bhekisisa Mncube.

I write this in pain inflicted by Tony Leon’s 1,745-word exercise in labouring a point built on non-sequiturs and falsehoods. My recent anointing of him as the poster boy of South African liberalism worsens the sting.

To be fair, Leon faced a near-impossible task: with just 1.73% of the national vote and seven out of 400 seats in the 1994–1999 National Assembly, he positioned himself as the real opposition to President Nelson Mandela—a decorated freedom fighter, the longest-serving prisoner of conscience, a Nobel Peace Laureate, and a statesman whose charisma and intellect towered over even his closest allies.

Leon, by contrast, was an intellectual lightweight. Yet, against all odds, he stood up to Mandela's administration and “spoke truth to power.” This was an honourable act.

Recently, he inserted himself into history, aiding the negotiating parties as an elder statesman on behalf of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in midwifing the second Government of National Unity (GNU), once more helmed by the ANC alongside ten other parties—including its fiercest rival, the 20 per cent DA.

My pain is compounded by my wife's long-standing 'executive order'—issued over a decade ago—to stop reading Tony Leon’s claptrap. I pressed on, sneaking off to read his musings out of her watchful eye.

I confess I have always had time for Leon. But my wife—a professor of sociology with a keen eye for intellectual flimflam—warned me long ago, and I should have listened. Today, I would have spared myself the torment of wading through fraudulence masquerading as academic insight, riddled with historical distortions.

Karl Marx, a German philosopher, might have predicted Leon’s distorted view of history when he opined a century plus ago: "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."

It is a tragedy that Leon has allowed himself to be hoodwinked by the rumour-mongering of the extremist right-wing alliance of AfriForum and Solidariteit. They peddle the fiction that all is not well in the "State of Denmark", to borrow from William Shakespeare—though in this case, the stench is coming from their own propaganda mill. In the alarmist game of spreading political concoctions, these extreme right-wingers find willing accomplices in fringe organisations like the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) and the Free Market Foundation (FMF).

The farce, of course, is that Leon fails to see the forest for the trees. The AfriForum-Solidariteit duo are habitual liars—peddling fairy tales as fact with the enthusiasm of modern-day false prophets like Shepherd Bushiri, the self-proclaimed 'miracle worker' and fugitive from justice. Does anyone remember the so-called "Afrikaner genocide" hysteria peddled by right-wing ideologue Ernst Roets as early as 2018? And another hullabaloo offering: "land expropriation without compensation, again in 2018", long before the failed 2021 attempt to amend section 25 of the 1996 SA Constitution, the “property rights clause”, and the recent 2025 signing of the Expropriation Act, which has given them ammunition without guns.

Three leading intellectuals who are capable of reading for meaning and are not swayed by populist rhetoric and amateurish propaganda agree that the Expropriation Act of 2025 will not result in "land confiscation" willy-nilly with “nil compensation." The head of Land Reform at Werksmans Attorneys, Bulelwa Mabasa, stated on The Money Show recently, if the land is occupied and productive, the chances of it being expropriated with “nil” compensation are zero. Similarly, Daily Maverick Associate Editor Stephen Grootes argued in his missive that US President Donald Trump’s comments about the Expropriation Act (which will not lead to land being taken for nil compensation unless it has been abandoned) are a deliberate dog-whistle to his voters.

All countries recognise the state's sovereign right to expropriate property under international law, provided it meets the criteria of public purpose, non-discrimination, and due process.

Finally, constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos of the University of Cape Town settled the matter, writing that some critics ignore the act still requires just and equitable compensation, agreed by the parties or set by courts, so the “nil compensation” provision does not allow expropriation without it, except for “abandoned or unused land.”

Now that I’ve had the pleasure of schooling an attorney on the law, let us shift gears to politics—specifically, the non-argument that our recent woes with the White House are the direct result of ANC-led foreign policy choices. Lest I be accused of embroidery, let me quote Leon himself, who opined: "The real heart of government pronouncements, of course, lies within the ANC itself. …(which is) why the current GNU “ some” parties resolutely oppose the current foreign policy that cossets Russia, Iran, Hamas, and the whole nine yards of an anti-Western alignment would do well to remember the ANC regards international relations as its sealed mandate.”

Firstly, the ANC has no alliance with Hamas, and none of its national conference resolutions mention the group. History, that stubborn repository of wisdom, tells us that Hamas was formed after the First Intifada in December 1987. It is mind-boggling why Leon conjures up fantastical alliances with Hamas in his haste to bury South Africa under the rubble of Gaza. Truth is President Mandela never met Hamas; instead, he hosted Yasser Arafat for a state visit and awarded him the Order of Good Hope in Gold, SA’s highest honour for foreign dignitaries, recognising the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) support during the anti-apartheid struggle. He had first met Arafat in Lusaka shortly after his release from apartheid jail.

Yet history shows that ANC identified parallels between apartheid South Africa and Palestinian displacement under Israeli occupation since the 1950s and 1960s. The ANC had a formal and cordial relationship with the PLO led by Yasser Arafat, established on 2 June 1964, a good 22 years before Hamas was born. This period (1950s) saw fervent support for Palestinian self-determination, framed within broader anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles. The ANC, in successive foreign relations resolutions, have continued to affirm its support for the Palestinian cause, a fact that should be known to Trump if he knows how to use Google. Leon, as a former ambassador South African Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay from 2009 to 2012 under the “able” leadership of the State Capture kingpin Jacob Zuma, which he (Leon) served with devotion, the ANC-led government openly supported the struggles of the Palestinian people. His silence at the time was deafening.

Grasping at straws, Leon makes a meal of the fact that Dr Naledi Pandor, former Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, phoned the Hamas leader/s after the 7 October “attack” in Israel, which is neither here nor there. It is the same reason that in 2015, over a decade after Mandela’s death, the ANC hosted Hamas as part of efforts to resolve the Palestinian question, including Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. As a former ambassador, Leon must know that you speak even to your worst enemy or make friends in any conflict, especially in your official capacity.

Furthermore, South Africa has been wrongly accused of mollycoddling Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin. Yet, we sent the largest African-led peace mission to Ukraine/Russia to attempt to broker a lasting peace. Was that an anti-West manoeuvre? We act in terms of our historical mission to end colonialism, so beautifully captured in our Constitution: “Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.”

If our choice of friends had unintended consequences affecting our relationship with America, we wouldn’t have 600 American companies operating in South Africa. As of 2022, US investment in our country amounted to $7.4 billion. By 2023, the largest share of US imports from South Africa—totalling $13.98 billion—came from Platinum-Group Metals (PGMs), of which we hold 71% of global reserves, a resource America simply cannot do without.

A history lesson is needed for those feigning shock at South Africa’s global alliances. We forged ties with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as early as the 1960s, with Cuba in 1964 and Palestine soon after. We joined the Brazil, Russia, India, and China bloc in April 2011, hence the acronym (BRICS) and have been part of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) since 1955. We recognised the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 2004,  affirming the ANC's long fraternal ties with the oppressed people in Morocco. As for being closeted to Iran, it’s laughable.

In short, South Africa’s foreign policy alliances are neither new nor inconsistent—they are the natural outgrowth of a history rooted in liberation solidarity, self-determination, and multipolar diplomacy. Can’t Leon see the irony?

South Africa and the American people share deep ties, with the ANC's apartheid-era opening of a diplomatic office in New York City in 1972 reinforcing bonds with those on the right side of history, as even Leon admits.

Today, we engage in rolling trade with the US through bilateral agreements and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). We exchange tourism, education, and culture, all while maintaining our so-called "undesirable friends." We have shared a seat at the G20 table since 1999, and the sky did not fall until the 47th US President emerged from the woodwork.

The truth is, America needs us far more than we need them, especially for our PGMs and the 600 US companies raking in mega-profits on our soil. And let’s dispense with the myth that America is our largest trading partner. The European Union (EU) holds the largest share of South Africa’s trade, while  China remains our top trading partner.

Thus, the current kerfuffle with America isn’t about our “undesirable friends” or the International Court of Justice case against Israel. The real issue is that South Africa is the poster child for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)—the very thing that keeps Trump awake at night. Our 1996 Constitution enshrined diversity, including sexual orientation. We passed the landmark affirmative action law in 1998, the Abortion Act in 1996, and, in 2006, codified same-sex marriages—years ahead of some self-proclaimed global champions of human rights.

Thus, we are comforted that our friends, like the European Council president António Costa, recently described us as “a reliable and predictable partner.”

-Mncube is an author and columnist who won the 2024 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Award for columns/editorials and the same category at the 2020 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards.