White House lays down terms for SA relations amid Afrikaner visit

Three Afrikaner representatives visited the White House in Washington to call for the normalisation of relations between South Africa and the US.

Freedom Front Plus leader Corné Mulder, SA Agri Initiative (Saai) chair Theo de Jager and National Employers Association of South Africa (Neasa) chief executive Gerhard Papenfus said they held a constructive and high-level meeting with senior US officials, including representatives from the office of the vice-president, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council.

Pre-conditions

According to the trio, the officials communicated the pre-conditions for the normalisation of bilateral relations between the two countries.

The conditions include the classification of farm attacks as a priority crime; a clear and unequivocal public condemnation by the ANC of Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer, whether used in song or any other context; and the exclusion of US entities from all broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) requirements.

Any race-based legislation that may constitute a non-tariff trade barrier should not apply to US entities, they said.

“The delegation now has a clear understanding of the US administration’s expectations.”

A call to convey conditions clearly

White House officials expressed concern that these conditions, despite being communicated multiple times to the South African government, have not been adequately addressed.

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They called on the Afrikaner delegation to convey these conditions clearly. Political analyst Rene Oosthuizen said the trio’s statement concerningly highlights a new layer of complexity in SA-US relations.

“These pre-conditions for normalising bilateral trade, particularly the call for US entities to be exempted from B-BBEE and to limit land reform, directly challenge the core of our country’s apartheid transformation agenda,” she said.

Oosthuizen was concerned the statement underscores the real diplomatic economic risks facing the country if relations with the US deteriorate further.

Not a good impression?

Senior political lecturer at North-West University Benjamin Rapanyane said this does not at all create a good impression of the Afrikaner community in South Africa.

“First of all, who delegated them to the White House? No one delegated them to go them. Also, why would the White House officials agree to meet this group outside the normal diplomatic channels,” he asked.

South Africa needed to be careful when addressing such matters with big economies like the US, otherwise the country will suffer terrible consequences unnecessarily, Rapanyane said.

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Political analyst Piet Croucamp said it was a common practice for cultural and language groups of interest to visit the United States and speak to individuals.

The visit ‘has no impact’

“Speaking to senior White House officials creates the impression that it does have an impact; a significant impact. I am hesitant to accept the statement because we haven’t seen it covered in the foreign media, American media or Washington media,” he said.

Croucamp said the trio must be careful not to create expectations of what can be achieved with the statements that they themselves have issued and the clever use of senior White House officials.

“However, it doesn’t mean the visit was meaningless and shouldn’t be done and that there was reason to criticise it, but it is important to see it for what it is. In the long run, it has no impact.

“Ramaphosa visited Washington and he spoke to US President Donald Trump. They really spoke to senior officials; you could see it – but even that had minimal impact,” Croucamp said.

“The same things were said and there is no indication that there has been influence specifically to a significant extent,” he said.

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