Two new bills in US Congress take aim at SA
Republican congressman Ronny Jackson has reintroduced the US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Act, which would mandate a full review of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
He accused South Africa of “brazenly abandoning” its relationship with the US to align with China, Russia, Iran, and terrorist organisations, a betrayal which Jackson said demands serious consequences.
The bill comes amid sharp disagreements between the two countries over some of South Africa's foreign policies, including its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the war in Gaza.
Jackson said the review would help advance President Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda, adding that the era of governments undermining American interests without repercussions was coming to an end.
Meanwhile, another new bill introduced in the US Congress aims to provide Afrikaners a pathway to U.S. residency, citing concerns over human rights violations connected to South Africa’s Expropriation Act.
The “Asylum for Farmers and Refugees in Crisis and Necessary Emigration Resettlement Act,” or “AFRIKANER Act,” was introduced by Representative Troy Nehls of Texas’s 22nd congressional district on Wednesday.
🚨BREAKING: I just introduced the AFRIKANER Act.
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) April 3, 2025
President Trump is right. How Afrikaners are being treated is a MASSIVE human rights violation.
My bill will offer Afrikaners a pathway to the US to flee the persecution they’ve lived through initiated by their own government. pic.twitter.com/kkNYac9zfq
The two bills were introduced despite a meeting between senior South African diplomats and their US counterparts in Washington to clarify "misconceptions" that have soured relations since President Donald Trump took office.
The meetings were intended to explain South African policies so the Trump administration "positions itself as a strategic partner", the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said.
The new US government has torn into various South African policies, culminating in the expulsion of Pretoria's ambassador last month.
"The delegation clarified key issues and misconceptions," the ministry said in a statement.
"We believe that these dialogues will assist in refining the current administration's understanding of South Africa's position on critical matters, fostering a more nuanced perspective."
The aim was for the Trump administration to position "itself as a strategic partner in a manner that avoids conflagration of our national interests against those of our strategic partners across the world".
The South African officials addressed "misconceptions on what has been presented by some as race laws designed to undermine minority rights", the statement said.
This included explaining a new Expropriation Act to show that it was not designed to facilitate unlawful land seizures, as alleged.
Trump's right-hand man is South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who has in the past echoed far-right conspiracy theories about a "white genocide" in the country.
*Additional reporting by AFP
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