ITS been quite a week in SA politics. Not only did we see the sudden passing of former deputy President David Mabuza, but the DA walked out of the much-vaunted “National Dialogue”, labeling the event as an ‘extravagant and costly affair’. The party stopped short of leaving the coalition government after President Cyril Ramaphosa fired one of its deputy ministers.
The move signals an extraordinary redefinition of political power, since it begs the question, what are elections if not a ticket to national dialogue within the House of Assembly? The ruse of creating yet another tier of government with all the expense and largess it entailed was not successful. That President Ramaphosa is facing the prospect of a motion of no-confidence at the same time that the ruling party is being criticized from across the political spectrum comes as no surprise.
Not only is our foreign policy in shambles following a humiliating defeat in the DRC, in which SANDF lost some 18 soldiers, but the recent DRC-Rwanda peace treaty brokered by the USA and Marco Rubio has shown South Africa is unable to act in a leadership role when it comes to the African continent and even the Middle East.
Ramaphosa’s decided partisanship on such issues, was bound to have political consequences, the least of which is that taking sides in the war between DRC and Rwanda and between Israel and Gaza, has exposed the country to sanctions at the behest of a Republican-lead Senate and Congress.
U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) has introduced the Addressing Hostile and Antisemitic Conduct by the Republic of South Africa Act of 2025.
This bill would suspend direct assistance to South Africa while imposing targeted sanctions on political leaders responsible for our “government’s antagonism towards the United States and its allies, lawfare against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and aligning with Iranian economic and military interests.”
“It is clear as day that the Government of South Africa is unfairly targeting the State of Israel and inciting hostility towards the United States and our allies,” said Rep. Steube. “South Africa’s purported grievances against Israel are nothing more than antisemitism wrapped in a bad-faith interpretation of international law. America has no business engaging with a corrupt government that weaponizes its political system against the Jewish people while jeopardizing our national security interests by indulging terrorist organizations and their sponsors. That is why I have proposed cutting off all direct assistance to South Africa and sanctioning their leaders until they stop abusing international institutions and catering to Iran and its terrorist proxies.”
When it comes to Anti-Semitism, the country has a shameful history of siding with Nazis. National Party membership cards from the 1930s carried the Swastika.
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