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IOL News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
SA/US relations: How South Africa now finds itself in humiliating position
President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at the Joint Base Andrews Airport in Washington. He is received by Trade and Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau, South African Embassy Chargè d 'Affairs, Stanley Makgohlo, Col Pumla Dlali, Assistant Defence Attache at the South African Embassy and Abby Jones, Acting Chief of Protocol, State Department. AS A chartered plane carrying 49 Afrikaner 'refugees' touched down in Washington, D.C., under the invitation of former President Donald Trump, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa made a far more consequential landing of his own. He arrived in the United States this week to lobby for the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a preferential trade agreement that grants South African exporters duty-free access to American markets. That this diplomatic visit follows so closely on the heels of a flight cloaked in white grievance and manufactured genocide narratives is no coincidence, it is a symptom of the same unresolved contradictions at the heart of South Africa's post-apartheid identity: a nation that cannot decide whose suffering it takes seriously. Trump's invitation to self-styled Afrikaner victims, most of whom claim 'discrimination' and 'white genocide,' is a damning reflection of how global far-right movements have opportunistically latched onto South Africa's unresolved racial wounds. While these individuals find safe haven in the United States, the Women on Farms Project reminds us that the actual marginalised black and brown farm workers, largely women continue to suffer silently, unheard by the same government now pleading with the U.S. to keep its markets open. 'They are opportunists,' said the Project's Denile Samuel, speaking plainly about the white Afrikaners who fled under Trump's programme. 'The real people who are marginalised, the real people who are not heard and not seen are farm workers.' Her words land with quiet force. They highlight a bitter irony: that even as white South Africans reinvent themselves as persecuted minorities abroad, the working class remains ignored by ministers who can't be bothered to acknowledge invitations, let alone engage with communities facing daily violations of their labour rights. It is against this backdrop of performative victimhood and governmental neglect that Ramaphosa's U.S. visit must be understood. The official reason is trade or more accurately, the attempt to save it. AGOA is set to expire later this year, but its renewal is far from guaranteed. American patience with South Africa has worn thin. Pretoria's geopolitical non-alignment particularly its warm ties with Russia and China has unsettled Washington. The Lady R scandal, in which a sanctioned Russian cargo ship docked in Simon's Town under suspicious conditions, continues to cast a long shadow. Although President Ramaphosa's Phala Phala cover-up has largely consumed domestic attention, it is the shadow diplomacy of the failure to assure the U.S. of South Africa's reliability that now threatens billions in export revenue and thousands of local jobs. To be clear, this is not just about citrus fruit and car parts. AGOA is a litmus test for South Africa's global legitimacy. If it fails to secure renewal, it will be a signal that Washington no longer views Pretoria as a trusted partner, but rather as a country adrift neither reliable ally nor coherent adversary. The optics matter. The President is not going to Washington in triumph. He is going cap in hand, attempting to make nice with a partner that no longer trusts us. And he is doing so while right-wing white South Africans land in the same city, not as emissaries, but as 'refugees' claiming victimhood under the very state he represents. The symbolic whiplash is staggering. The backdrop to Ramaphosa's trip also includes a more surreal diplomatic episode: the tense Oval Office confrontation between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just weeks ago. That meeting was marked by Trump's theatrical accusation that Zelensky was 'gambling with World War Three' and the Ukrainian president's desperate attempt to placate an increasingly hostile American administration. The parallel is unnerving. The White House has become a theatre where global leaders must perform for American approval whether they are trying to save their sovereignty, their trade deals, or their economic lifelines. Ramaphosa's delegation knows that time is running out. If they cannot secure AGOA's renewal, they will at least try to delay its death. Their objective is simple: get their ducks in a row before the doors shut completely. The urgency of the visit reveals what government will not say out loud that South Africa no longer commands automatic goodwill, and that trade access is now something we must actively fight to keep. It is a humiliating position for a country that once sold itself as the moral compass of the Global South. But perhaps it is also a necessary reckoning. South Africa cannot continue to straddle every fence siding with Russia in UN votes while calling itself a neutral broker, cosying up to China while relying on U.S. trade. That diplomatic ambivalence has now reached its limit. The AGOA negotiations will test whether we can still walk that tightrope or whether the world, much like our own neglected workers, has simply stopped listening. Roos is a policy writer, researcher and political analyst
IOL News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Afrikaner ‘refugees' are opportunists: Women on Farms Project says farm workers are the victims in South Africa
The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa arrived for resettlement listening to remarks from US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and US Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar Image: SAUL LOEB / AFP As the first group of 49 South Africans settle in the United States after they were invited by President Donald Trump to apply for refugee status, an organisation representing farm workers in the Western Cape said the 'refugees' are opportunists. On Monday morning, IOL reported that a chartered plane carrying 49 South African Afrikaners departed for the United States on Sunday night under Trump's offer for the 'discriminated' South African individuals and families to relocate. The first batch of Afrikaner refugees left OR Tambo International Airport on a flight operated by the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based charter company Omni Air International, and are expected to land in Washington on Monday evening. Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Denile Samuel, Women on Farms Project's labour coordinator said while the Afrikaners are being relocated to the United States, the plight of farm workers in South Africa remains neglected. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. 'My sense about that (issue) is, the real people who are marginalised, the real people who are not heard and not seen are farm workers. They are the ones that need to complain, not white Afrikaners,' Samuel told the television news channel. 'They are opportunists, that is what they are.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ She said farm workers in South Africa are neglected, and the matter does not receive the attention it deserves. 'Of course they are (neglected). For years, they have been neglected, they are still neglected. They are the voiceless.' Members of Women on Farms Project marched to the Department of Labour and Employment offices in the Western Cape, calling for improved working and better living conditions for farm workers. Image: Supplied/Women on Farms Project On Monday, members of Women on Farms Project marched to the Department of Labour and Employment offices in the Western Cape, where they handed over a memorandum of demands, calling for improved working and better living conditions for farm workers. IOL has seen the memorandum of demands directed at Minister of Employment and Labour, Nomakhosazana Meth; chief director for provincial operations in Western Cape, Mawele Ntamo; provincial chief inspector in Western Cape, David Esau, and Dr Iqram Bux, senior manager of medical services, Compensation Fund in the province. 'In August 2024, Mr Ntamo, chief director of operations in the Western Cape, provincial head of the Department of Employment and Labour, announced on a public platform that Minister Meth would be visiting and engaging with farm workers in October or November 2024; this did not happen, neither were farm workers informed of when she would visit,' the memorandum stated. 'Since her appointment, Women on Farms Project has sent several requests to Minister Meth through her private secretary and director of communications, to engage with farm workers around widespread labour rights violations on commercial farms. These invitations have never even been acknowledged by the minister and her department.' Denile Samuel, Labour Coordinator of Women on Farms Project Image: Supplied In the memorandum, the 'frustrated' women farm workers and dwellers are requesting an engagement with Meth. The memorandum said it sought to also highlight the ongoing failure of the Department of Employment and Labour to uphold its mandate to enforce labour laws, conduct effective inspections, and respond timeously to urgent labour rights violations on farms. Among other demands, the women farm workers are seeking acknowledgement and a response to their memorandum by May 20. They are also demanding an engagement with Meth, to discuss issues pertaining to the labour rights of farm workers. Farmworkers Women farm workers and dwellers march to Philagro's office in Somerset West to hand over a memorandum demanding a complete and immediate end to the production, export and use of cyanamide/Dormex for agricultural purposes amid serious health concerns. Image: Supplied Earlier this week, IOL reported that Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen has yet to disclose how his office would deal with increasing calls for a complete and immediate end to the production, export and use of cyanamide/Dormex for agricultural purposes, amid serious health risks to farmworkers. Cyanamide, a Highly Hazardous Pesticide (HHP), according to Women on Farms Project, has lost its approval in the European Union since 2008, but is still produced by Alzchem in Germany from where it is exported to countries in the global South, including South Africa. In South Africa, cyanamide is distributed by Philagro on behalf of Alzchem, according to Women on Farms Project. IOL News
Eyewitness News
13-05-2025
- Eyewitness News
WC women farmworkers call for Labour Dept to enforce laws on commercial farms
CAPE TOWN - Women farmworkers from various parts of the Western Cape are calling on the Department of Employment and Labour to enforce labour laws on commercial farms in the province. They took their grievances to the department's doorsteps on Tuesday in the Cape Town CBD. They're accusing the department of ignoring their complaints of labour rights violations by farm owners. A group of women seasonal farmworkers under the banner of Women on Farms Project are demanding the enforcement of all labour laws, including the National Minimum Wage Act. Handing over a memorandum of grievances on Tuesday afternoon, spokesperson Daniel Samuel said they also wanted the department to issue fines and penalties to non-compliant farms. "We demand a meeting with provincial staff, the inspectorate, heads of labour centres from Worcester, De Doorns, Ceres, Paarl, and Somerset West, including Dr Bax, who is heading the Compensation Fund by no later than 6 June 2025." They're also demanding the fast-tracking of UIF applications, especially those of women seasonal farmworkers.
