When a country keeps alienating and insulting one of its biggest trade partners while embracing its enemies, despite clear warnings from various sides, it should expect to bear the consequences – as is the case with South Africa being kicked out of its AGOA trade agreement with the US.
For South Africa, the consequences are enormous and extensive. It will result in substantial job losses, which the country simply cannot afford. The general economy, and particularly sectors such as agriculture and the vehicle manufacturing industry, will be dealt a severe blow.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Minister of International Relations, Ronald Lamola, must shoulder the blame for this. Their callous refusal to comply with the US’s reasonable requirements for normalising relations, as conveyed to them by the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus), has brought about this disaster.
The ANC was warned year in and year out while several organisations and the Freedom Front Plus visited Washington numerous times to plead that ordinary South Africans would not be punished for the ANC’s damaging foreign policy and that South Africa would not be kicked out of AGOA.
The ANC’s response was to threaten parties pleading South Africa’s case before the international community and the US with prosecution, including charges of high treason.
The impact that the AGOA decision will have on ordinary South Africans is far reaching. Billions of rand in annual export revenue, particularly from the automotive and agricultural sectors, will be lost as a result of harsh US import tariffs that did not apply under AGOA.
According to various industry analysts, this jeopardises between 125 000 jobs directly and more than 500 000 jobs indirectly in a country where the expanded unemployment rate already stood at 43,8% in the second quarter of 2026.
Households and communities will sink deeper into poverty due to less competition and company closures.
While the ANC keeps claiming that alternative markets will be found, South Africa keeps falling out of favour internationally. A trade partner with good intentions, such as the US, cannot be found overnight.
This development is damning for the ANC on the eve of the local government elections. Although this is a local government election, voters still have the opportunity to demonstrate that the ANC should no longer be allowed keep steering this ship to self-destruction.
The ANC has repeatedly shown that it cannot be trusted with anything, whether it is basic service delivery, such as water and electricity, or the country’s economic future in the international sphere. This party has destroyed South Africa and alienated it from the rest of the world.
