Tens of thousands of jobs on South Africa's citrus farms at risk if US imposes tariffs

Sky News

23-03-2025

Citrusdal is a seemingly idyllic farming town named after the fruit it grows. Nestled in a valley at the base of the Western Cape's Cederberg mountains, it's home to rows and rows of orange and lemon trees.
The tangerines in the orchards are still as green as the leaves. Harvest will come in July and August, then the fruit will be picked and boxed for export to the UK, Europe and the US.
But as tensions heighten between the South African government and Trump's administration, this vital export may never land on US soil.
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.
AGOA is due for renewal at the end of September 2025 and is incredibly vulnerable to getting the axe from Mr Trump, as he imposes tariffs on his closest neighbours Canada and Mexico.
Here in Citrusdal, alarms are sounding as market experts recommend South Africa withdraws from AGOA willingly to offset risk, rather than face the storm in September.
Gerrit van der Merwe, chair of the Citrus Growers' Association and managing director of ALG Estates, says he hopes an adult in the room will make the right decision.
"We take a step back, that's a hit. Not just on the farmers but on all the community. If we are missing out on prosperity the slack will probably get picked up either by a citrus farmer in Peru or some farmer in Spain," says Gerrit.
South Africa is the world's second-largest exporter of citrus after Spain. Though only 9% of South African citrus goes to the US, a complete withdrawal of tariff-free access could impact 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.
A black labourer on the back of a tractor waves as he drives by. On the edges of the farm, workers sit in the backs of farm wagons full of insect-infected oranges they cleared from the trees to keep them healthy.
They are working land that was acquired during the founding years of the Dutch occupation of the Cape from the 17th century and passed down 13 generations to Gerrit and his family.
The racialised legacy of land ownership was entrenched by apartheid rule during South Africa's mining boom and remains the reality here. White people make up 7% of the population but own more than half the land.
A new land expropriation act signed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa allows for the government to seize land in the public interest.
The bill is yet to be enacted but has drawn the ire of Mr Trump, who responded with an executive order calling the actions egregious and hateful towards "racially disfavoured landowners" and offered asylum to Afrikaners.
It is reported 67,000 farmers have shown interest in US asylum but Gerrit says that is not an option for the citrus growers in his association.
"I don't think anybody is taking it seriously. You will always have a fringe in any society of 5 or 10% that will take it up and will carry that flag but most of the people I deal with love South Africa and would like to stay," he says.
"We do feel a bit isolated about the fear-mongering because we don't see it on a daily basis. We are not that security conscious on a daily basis."
He adds: "I'm not exposed to the guys up north and I think that some people are in really tough situations."
Up north, Wannie Scribante proudly shows us the security set-up protecting his small private farm.
His cameras have AI technology that spots the movement of people, and he shares stills of his black labourers as they work the edges of the farm.
He hasn't had a single intrusion or theft since he set up the cameras three years ago but still feels threatened by squatters and the risk of land expropriation.
"I'm concerned that this has been pushed by a government that is not honest with us. Why do they write in expropriation without compensation? Then they tell me we're not going to do that? It is silly to spend so much time on it and do a law if you're not going to do that," says Wannie.
Though Wannie does not believe the debunked claims of a white genocide being repeated by Elon Musk, he still appreciates the cover coming from the Oval Office after feeling ignored by the South African government.
"They say why don't you talk to us? I mean we are trying to and they don't listen. We don't even get appointments. Now, suddenly someone else says it and it opens up the conversation of our problems that we have."
I ask him if white South African farmers are being used to push an agenda.
"Most probably, yes.
"I think President Trump has things he is not happy about - the expropriation law, targeting, things like that - but I don't think that is his biggest problem. I think his biggest problem is our government's friendliness with their enemies.