South Africa’s economy is closely linked to the United States and with unemployment rates among the highest in the world you might think the Ramaphosa government would do all it can to hang on to each and every one. But as the row provoked by former Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool shows, this is simply not the case.

South Africa is one of the biggest exporters in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade agreement providing Sub-Saharan countries with preferential access to US markets through tariff-free imports. The right-wing union organisation, Solidarity, estimates that as many as 250,000 jobs depend on AGOA.

“It is currently estimated that more than half a million (576 164) jobs in South Africa depend directly on exports to the US, half of which are in turn dependent on AGOA.”

This may be an exaggeration. Other calculations are severe enough.

In the citrus industry alone Gerrit van der Merwe, chair of the Citrus Growers’ Association, calculated that a complete withdrawal of tariff-free access could cut thousands of jobs.

“AGOA is probably responsible for 35,000 jobs in the citrus industry in South Africa but also indirectly responsible for 25,000 jobs in the US for truck driving, repacking, running cold rooms and that type of thing. We have a 35 to 45% unemployment rate in South Africa. We need wins,” says Gerrit.

The ANC just shrugs

Having been declared personal non-grata in the USA for attacking Trump as a racist and a supremacist, Rasool has been anything but quiet. Asked by the BBC’s Newshour whether he believed the Trump administration was racist, Rasool said: “I think it is self-evident rather than anyone needing to be called out.”

Ebrahim Rasool

The ANC, having experienced just how undiplomatic Rasool could be might have tried to rebuild relations with the Trump administration. Not a bit of it.

The ANC Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula “railed against the US”, accusing the Trump government of “hypocrisy and imperialism.”

South Africa’s strained relationship with the United States has since suffered another blow.

The world’s biggest economy is reportedly cutting military ties with South Africa and expelling its military attaché.

According to the Sunday Times, the US has cut military assistance and cooperation with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The paper cited a memo dated March 13 from the US State Department to Aaron Harding, the CFO of America’s Defense Security Co-operation Agency (DCSA).

It states that, per the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump, all foreign aid and assistance offered to South Africa will be suspended.

It is hard to credit that the ANC is so unconcerned about the impact its policies have on its standing in the world.

It has put relations with Iran – with just R361 million exports to the country in 2024 ahead of ties with the Americans. By comparison South Africa sold R239 billion to the United States.

Yet South Africa is happy to embrace Iran, a country with no democratic credentials and an appalling human rights record. Clever, eh?