{"id":89963,"date":"2025-09-17T18:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-second-united-states-bill-to-sanction-the-anc-has-just-hit"},"modified":"2025-09-17T18:12:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:12:41","slug":"a-second-united-states-bill-to-sanction-the-anc-has-just-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/a-second-united-states-bill-to-sanction-the-anc-has-just-hit","title":{"rendered":"A second United States bill to sanction the ANC has just hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Legislators in the United States Senate have hit South Africa with a second proposed bill to compel Washington to review its relations with Pretoria, sanction the ANC, and kick the country out of AGOA.<\/p>\n

The bill, called the US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act, was tabled in the US Senate by senator John Kennedy on 15 September.<\/p>\n

While sharing the same name\u2014and broadly the same goal\u2014as the US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act (H.R.2633)<\/b> tabled earlier in the year by Ronnie Jackson, they are different pieces of law.<\/p>\n

The Jackson bill originated in the House of Representatives, and the latest Kennedy bill originated in the Senate.<\/p>\n

The new Senate bill:<\/p>\n

Requires a comprehensive review of the bilateral US-South Africa relationship and a certification from the president on whether South Africa undermines US national security interests.<\/p>\n

Requires a classified list of South African government officials and members of South Africa\u2019s ruling party, the African National Congress, eligible for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act.<\/p>\n

Ends South Africa\u2019s eligibility to benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act.<\/p>\n

As with the House bill, the laws call for a full review of bilateral relations between the US and South Africa, and make provision for sanctions against individuals in the ANC and in the wider government.<\/p>\n

However, the Senate bill differs by explicitly calling for South Africa to be removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).<\/p>\n

Notably, the AGOA action may be moot, given that the Trump tariffs supersede AGOA.<\/p>\n

Other differences include the House version being more specific about factions in the ANC, while the Senate version is more sweeping, addressing the ANC as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s 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,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill holds South Africa accountable and ensures our relationship is serving US national security\u2014not undermining it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator said that the \u201cchronically mismanaged\u201d government of South Africa has repeatedly acted against the interests of the United States and its allies, and inflamed tensions with the United States by appointing \u201cradical officials\u201d to represent it.<\/p>\n

He referred specifically to former ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, who described President Donald Trump as a \u201csupremacist\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe South African regime has also repeatedly aligned itself with US adversaries in Europe and Asia, hosting joint naval exercises with Russia and China and allowing a US-sanctioned Russian cargo ship to dock on its shores,\u201d his office said.<\/p>\n

The full text of the bill can be read here<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Will the bills actually get passed?<\/b><\/p>\n

Joel Pollak<\/p>\n

According to South African-born US political commentator Joel Pollak, many bills get tabled in Congress and never make it out of the House. But there may be serious cause for concern this time around.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BizNews, he said that for many legislators, \u201cit\u2019s mostly for show \u2013 they want to be seen to be making a stand\u201d for their constituents, regardless of whether the bills pass or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, once a piece of legislation also has a counterpart in the Senate, it means that there\u2019s a serious effort underway to build support not just in one house, but in both,\u201d Pollak said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, instead of a vanity project by people who have a particular interest in South Africa, this now looks like it\u2019s moving toward an actual foreign policy step taken by the government of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollak said that it may also indicate a broader bipartisan dissatisfaction with South Africa\u2019s \u201cforeign policy drift,\u201d not limited to the Trump administration or the Republican party.<\/p>\n

While the Republican angle has been ANC-led policies in South Africa like BEE and land expropriation, Democrats have increasingly become disillusioned with the government\u2019s cosy relationship with American enemies like Russia, China and Hamas, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill lists all of those grievances from either side,\u201d Pollak said.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Pollak noted that getting a bill signed into law is a lengthy process and that there are no guarantees that it will pass, even with strong support.<\/p>\n

The bills will have to be debated and voted on by each respective branch of Congress and then move on to face the same process in the other.<\/p>\n

Only once the House and the Senate have voted on and approved the same bill with no amendments, it can head to the desk of the president to sign.<\/p>\n

Notably, these bills have made their way through Congress in the past, with the latest versions largely unchanged from previous attempts to punish South African politicians.<\/p>\n

A 2016 version of the Republican-led House bill made its way to the Democrat-led Senate before falling flat.<\/p>\n

A key difference this time, however, is that the House and the Senate are both Republican-controlled, and there are now two bills attempting to do the same thing.<\/p>\n

The Jackson bill has already had one showing in the House\u2019s subcommittee, with amendments recommended. The Kennedy bill has just been tabled, and the Senate\u2019s subcommittee has yet to discuss it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that both houses are processing similar pieces of legislation is a very important sign,\u201d Pollak said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Legislators in the United States Senate have hit South Africa with a second proposed bill to compel Washington to review its relations with Pretoria, sanction the ANC, and kick the country out of AGOA. 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