Sanctions won’t make us drop BEE and Expropriation Act – ANC

The African National Congress (ANC) has issued a defiant challenge to the United States (US), asserting its commitment to policies like BEE and expropriation, despite the looming threat of US sanctions on its leaders and punitive tariffs.

In a recent press briefing on 6 August, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula dared the US to “bring on” sanctions against some of its leaders, stating that South Africa would not “beg imperialists to subvert the country’s democracy.”

This strong stance comes as South Africa anticipates a 30% tariff on its exports to the US, set to commence on 7 August .

The ANC has indicated that it believes these measures are aimed at pressuring South Africa to abandon its “transformative agenda” of “economic redress and racial equality.”

“If they want to bring sanctions on us, let them bring them. This country, South Africa, and all its citizens, know that it’s a democratic country, it’s a liberated country and we are still transforming this country in order to achieve equity,” said Mbalula.

“We will still pursue redress; we are not equal in this economy. This economy is still male white dominated and you want to tell us to abandon policies that seek to advance transformation,” he added.

The ANC leadership, including Mbalula, has explicitly stated that they will not abandon policies such as black economic empowerment (BEE) and the Expropriation Act, even if individual leaders face sanctions.

“If it means we have to suffer sanctions from the US, let it be. We will never beg imperialists to subvert our democracy, to subvert our sovereignty”.

The deteriorating SA/US relationship

The escalating tension between Washington and Pretoria stems from several factors.

US congressman Ronny Jackson has introduced a bill seeking to sanction some ANC leaders. This bill recently passed through the US foreign affairs committee.

In a May post on X, Jackson accused South Africa of “withdrawing from the US and its allies in recent years while deepening relationships with its adversaries like China, Russia, Iran and Hamas”.

In July, Jackson celebrated the committee’s passage of his bill, stating it would “give President Trump the tools necessary to hold their corrupt government accountable”.

The US administration has also criticised South African policies such as black economic empowerment and legislation like the Expropriation Act, describing them as “discriminatory” against the minority white population.

Pretoria, however, maintains that these policies are fundamentally “meant to correct racial imbalances created by apartheid”.

Earlier this year, former US President Donald Trump claimed that the South African government was using the Expropriation Act to seize land from white farmers.

This has been amplified by organisations such as the Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum and the union Solidarity, who have urged US sanctions against “corrupt” ANC leaders.

This contributed to a testy relationship with the Trump administration, which even offered refugee status in the US for white Afrikaners.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had previously sought to address this narrative during a meeting with Trump in Washington, yet it ended in a widely-publicised ambush from the US president.

Not going drop the “transformative agenda”, says the ANC

Mbalula acknowledged that the impending 30% tariff on South African exports to the US would have a “huge negative impact on the country’s economy,” given the country is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner.

 In 2024, total bilateral goods trade between the nations sat at R375 billion. 

However, Mbalula said that this would not prompt the ANC to “abandon policies such as black economic empowerment to appease Washington”.

He views the US pressure as an attempt to “coerce us to do things that are anti-transformation”.

Mbalula drew a contrast with the Democratic Alliance (DA), stating, “we are not DA, the DA will address that because they do not want affirmative action, they don’t want redress, they don’t believe in transformation”.

This ideological divergence has contributed to tension within the newly formed Government of National Unity (GNU) led by the two parties.

The ANC recently resolved at its national executive committee meeting to begin speaking to other political parties about joining the GNU, a move which “would dilute the DA’s power”.