President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ANC ministers should tone it down to avoid being the victims of the United States of America’s bill, designed to sanction some of the party members, an international relations expert said.
Dr Bongiwe Ngcobo of the University of South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, commented following a growing pressure on South Africa from US President Donald Trump’s administration and some of his country’s parliamentarians.
While Ramaphosa’s administration was still trying to navigate the US’s 30% tariff on the country and Trump’s Executive Order, US Congressman Ronny Jackson proposed US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act of 2025, which seeks to impose sanctions against some ANC leaders accused of, among others, supporting China, Russia, and Iran, and mismanaging state resources.
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has already passed the bill and is now awaiting tabling at the full House of Representatives for a vote.
US embassy spokesperson Rubani Trimiew declined to comment, saying the questions about the bill should be directed to the members of Congress who proposed it.
Jackson did not respond to questions emailed to him on Friday.
The bill, which the South African Communist Party described in April as an imperialist agenda, accused Ramaphosa and former International Relations and Cooperation minister Naledi Pandor of being pro-Palestinian and Hamas and anti-Israel.
Ngcobo, who described the bill as concerning, said the president and ministers have to be diplomatic in how they comment on issues that are sensitive to the US, as South Africa is still negotiating a trade deal and repairing its relations with the US.
“They have to be willing to compromise to gain bigger things that we are trying to achieve.
“Criticising Trump publicly will not benefit South Africa in any way, so they need to find a strategy to air their thoughts without being aggressive,” said Ngcobo.
Ngcobo said that since South Africa is not a global influencer, it should take a beggar’s approach.
“We are not Russia or China, we don’t have the economic and military strength to counter the US, because even continentally, our influence is weaker than before.
“With the Democratic Republic of Congo, we could not mediate, and that peace was mediated by the US, which shows that we won’t get much global support.
“This means that South Africa would have to beg,” she said.
It remained unclear which individual ANC members would be the targets of the proposed act.
However, the bill specifically mentioned Pandor, who is an ANC veteran, Ramaphosa, ANC president, party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, and Ebrahim Rasool, an ANC activist whom the US expelled as the ambassador.
It blamed Pandor for saying in 2024 that Israeli-South Africans would be arrested for fighting in the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza “upon their return home and could strip them of their South African citizenship.”
It said Pandor also encouraged protests outside the United States Embassy.
“Pandor called for the International Criminal Court to issue an immediate arrest warrant charging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with violations of international criminal law.
“On October 14, 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa accused Israel of ‘genocide’ in statements during a pro-Palestinian rally.
“On October 8, 2023, the ANC’s national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, said of the devastating Hamas attack, ‘the decision by Palestinians to respond to the brutality of the settler Israeli apartheid regime is unsurprising,” read the bill.
The bill blamed the ANC for its ongoing attempt to rename the street where the United States Consulate in Johannesburg is situated after Palestine activist Leila Khaled.
Its author, Jackson, took offense at ANC Deputy Secretary General Nomvula Mokonyane, who he quoted as saying, “we want the United States of America embassy to change their letterhead to Number 1 Leila Khaled Drive”.
It was reported that the US had rejected former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas as a Ramaphosa-appointed special envoy following Rasool’s expulsion from that country.
Ngcobo said it was likely that the targets would be high-profile ANC leaders who had been vocal on the Gaza and South Africa’s land expropriation issues.
“It would be key individuals whom they know the sanction would affect their operations.
“At this point, I am not sure who they are targeting,” she said.
AfriForum, which had been accused of badmouthing the country in the US, welcomed the bill as a weapon to implement targeted sanctions against corrupt and extremist South African politicians.
“AfriForum maintains that ordinary citizens should not be punished for the extremism and corruption of politicians.
“AfriForum has never advocated for sanctions that target South Africa as a whole.
“Therefore, the introduction of targeted sanctions against these politicians will be a welcome development,” said AfriForum’s public relations head, Ernst van Zyl.
Ramaphosa took a wait-and-see stance, saying the bill still has a long way to go before reaching the final stage, as after the House of Representatives vote, it will proceed to the Senate for final consideration.
“Our bilateral dealings and engagements with the United States will continue, and we’ll talk about all manner of things – including this issue.”
“We are very positive that the outcome of our engagements with the United States will be comprehensive and all-encompassing, so we can return to good deals with the United States,” he said.
On behalf of the ANC, Bhengu-Motsiri said: “Remember, we come from a history where sanctions were imposed against the apartheid system.
“The ANC was also isolated by countries that worked closely with the apartheid regime, including the United States,” she said.
Zimbabwe’s Zanu–PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa said the sanctions, which started in 2000, failed to bring his country to its knees.
