DA and ANC on same page about Agoa, but Steenhuisen touts ‘ANC | South Africa Reports

DA and ANC on same page about Agoa, but Steenhuisen touts ‘ANC is not South Africa’ to US

The ANC government and the opposition Democratic Alliance have vehemently disagreed with each other over Russia’s war against Ukraine. But they found themselves in Washington over the last few days both urging the US not to drop South Africa from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent a delegation under his national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi to lobby administration officials and congressional leaders amid rising concerns about Pretoria’s deteriorating relations with Washington. This over what the US and other Western governments see as the ANC government’s increasingly friendly relations with Moscow.

The immediate concern in Pretoria is that the US could end or reduce SA’s participation in Agoa, which gives duty and quota-free access for most South African exports to the US.

But Steenhuisen said his delegation — which also comprised opposition chief whip Siviwe Gwarube and Dr Dion George, shadow minister of finance — had told the Americans that “the ANC is not South Africa”, that there were prospects for a new government next year and that some areas where the DA already governed, such as Tshwane, where automakers were located and the Western Cape which exported large quantities of agricultural exports to the US, were dependent on Agoa.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-02-da-and-anc-on-same-page-about-agoa-but-steenhuisen-touts-anc-is-not-south-africa-to-us/