By Amy Musgrave
A delegation of the Solidarity Movement, AfriForum and Solidarity, which is opposed to South Africa’s new land laws, is meeting senior representatives of US President Donald Trump’s administration at the White House in Washington DC.
This follows Trump offering white Afrikaners land in the US and freezing aid to South Africa over the Expropriation Act and South Africa’s stance on Israel. The rift between SA and the US has also put the African Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa) at risk.
Many of the farmers, who Trump is claiming to protect, will be negatively impacted if the Act is not renewed next year.
Various conciliatory gestures from South Africa have been made, but Trump and his administration are not budging.
According to a statement, the delegation is asking US officials to intensify pressure on African National Congress leaders for policy change instead of suspending South Africa’s participation in Agoa.
Solidarity Movement chairperson Flib Buys claimed that there was a lack of urgency from the South African government to restore diplomatic relations and this was “creating a growing crisis for South Africa”.
He said about half a million workers with about two million dependents directly depended on South Africa’s participation in Agoa, and this was why Solidarity was opposed to South Africa being kicked out of Agoa.
A research report on the importance of Agoa for ordinary South Africans has been handed over to government officials in Washington.
The movement also requested that humanitarian aid to South Africa, such as the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief start again, following Trump’s cancellation, saying that it could harm vulnerable people.
“For this reason, we urge the US not to punish South Africa as a country if it has diplomatic differences with the SA government but to rather pressure ANC leaders to right what is wrong. We cannot allow it that ordinary South Africans suffer even more as a result of the mistakes of the ANC,” the delegation said.
It said its task to act on behalf of ordinary South Africans was obstructed by the South African government’s “persistent view that the diplomatic dispute is simply due to misunderstandings, and that they do not plan any policy changes despite the multiple crises the ANC-led government policies have landed the country in”.
“Our feedback from senior US government leaders is that the diplomatic disputes with South Africa have profound causes and are far more profound than being just a communication gap or ‘disinformation’ as the SA government is claiming it to be.”
Solidarity Movement has also expressed its serious concerns about the consequences of the new Expropriation Act, “calls for violence against Afrikaners” and the passing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (Bela), which impacts single-medium schools and power of School Governing Bodies.
The delegation also pointed out that it recognised and respected South Africa’s sovereignty, but that the government could not hide behind it when the human rights of a minority group was being disregarded or threatened by the new laws.
“It is necessary that these matters be raised abroad because the government has shown by the Bela talks, its continued refusal to amend racial laws, and the signing of the Expropriation Act without consulting its GNU partners that they have shut the door to talks in good faith in South Africa,” it said. The delegation is also being led by AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel, Solidarity union CEO Dirk Hermann and Solidarity Movement head international liaison head Jaco Kleynhans.
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