Trajectory of Biden Administration foreign policy on South Africa/Africa relations

Meeting report

Opening remarks
Mr T Mpanza (ANC) as Acting Chairperson noted that due to doctor’s orders the Chairperson will not be able to chair the meeting but she will be present in the meeting. Today’s meeting is a knowledge sharing session to inform the Committee on what relations will look like between USA and Africa under the Biden Presidency. As an oversight body this information session will help Committee members to direct the work of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) when dealing with the USA. The country has structured bilateral agreements with the United States and the Portfolio Committee seeks to ensure that South Africa benefits mutually from these agreements. The information will also help Committee Members to ask the Department relevant and hard questions on relations with United States, especially how the Department is taking the advantage to reap fruits that will benefit South Africa and Africa as a whole. The Committee will have a discussion and Members will be able to formulate their own opinions. Dr Zondi is not from the Department – he is a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg teaching politics and international relations.

Dr Siphamandla Zondi thanked the Committee; he understands the important work the Committee does – the Committee plays an important role in advancing the goals set out in the NDP and Agenda 2063 on international relations in Africa.

Trajectory of Biden Administration foreign policy on South Africa/Africa relations
President Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy
President Biden delivered his major foreign policy speech in January. He sent a strong signal to the rest of the world that they will see a very different America and declared that “America is back”. The policy statement was also perceived as meant to relay a message to other international leaders about what the US will do over the next four years. It served as a public repudiation of many of the policies of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. It was designed to restore order and global faith once more in the United States.

Addressing US relations with Russia, President Biden said he had “made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor” that the US would no longer “roll over” in the face of Russian aggression. He singled out “interfering with our elections, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens”. However, he also stressed his willingness to work with Russia on controlling nuclear weapons and noted that the two countries had already agreed to extend the New START treaty, that seeks to reduce US and Russian nuclear stockpiles for five years. This was a development regarded as a major break with the Trump approach, who took a decision to abandon the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) and Open Skies agreements.

China was referred to as “our most serious competitor” and vowed to “push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance”. At the same time, President Biden indicated his willingness to collaborate with Beijing when it was in “America’s best interests".

Iran was mentioned in reference to Iran’s ‘proxy’ conflicts with Saudi Arabia. This was regarded as another major break with the Trump administration’s hostile attitude towards Tehran. The US would end all support and aid for warring parties in Yemen, one of the major conflict points between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the region. In this regard, it was mentioned that the new US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had appointed a special envoy to Yemen, tasked with working with the UN and all parties to the conflict to bring hostilities to an end.

President Biden addressed the 34th Summit of the African Union, which was meeting virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He reiterated his commitment to active diplomacy and multilateralism in consultation with the AU. There is an emerging US-Africa consensus to cooperate in preventing and resolving problems. Within days, President Biden lifted the ban prohibiting recipients of US assistance from providing abortion, a move applauded by many women in Africa as a progressive move to secure gender equality.

At the top of his agenda, are COVID-19 and climate change; he re-joined the World Health Organisation and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Africa is encouraged to push for increased funding to ensure African access to affordable, adequate COVID-19 vaccines; and funding to boost the Green Climate Fund to help Africa mitigate and adapt to global warming.

Other important international priorities which would appeal to Africa include refugee issues; addressing racism and white supremacy; respect for diversity and inclusion; assisting the AU’s efforts at peacekeeping, conflict prevention and regional security; tapping into the Congress and communicating African priorities to the Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee who said a new Africa policy would be his priority. The chair is from the Africa diaspora constituency, that President Biden credits for ensuring his nomination and election.

Future of US-South Africa Relations under Biden
Before being sworn-in, President Joe Biden was already focussed on injecting new energy into the US-Africa policy, following four years of neglect and uncertainty. He has re-joined the World Health Organisation; the Paris Climate agreement; endorsed Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria as the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation; and he has reversed the travel ban, reopening the United States to Eritreans, Nigerians, Somalis, Sudanese, and Tanzanians. During the transition, President Biden talked to South African President Ramaphosa and Kenyan President Kenyatta. He also released a video statement to the African Union. The US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, has talked to the Chair of the AU Commission, Mr Moussa Faki, Sudanese Prime Minister Hamdok, and South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor. However, Africa needs more – that the US government elevate African voices.

South Africa/Africa Aspirations on future relations with the US.
One of the recommendations made from South Africa, is that the Biden administration should engage Africa and prioritise economic development in Africa. South Africa has the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) with the US. AGOA is meant for enhancing market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African countries. The agreement has since been renewed to 2025. South Africa has had a long and hard time trying to convince the Trump administration to renew its participation in AGOA. In 2015 renewal negotiations, the US warned that changes to legislation that would limit foreign ownership of private security companies in South Africa, may affect the country’s inclusion in AGOA.

In renewal negotiations in 2020, South Africa was subjected to another tough session of negotiations for continued participation in AGOA. The US had accepted a complaint from the International Intellectual Property Alliance – a private-sector group that represents 3 200 US companies including the makers and distributors of books, films and music – that alleged that South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill and Performers’ Protection Amendment Bill, failed to provide adequate and effective protection of US copyrights.

Since South Africa has been put at risk of losing preferential trade access to the US, the view from South Africa is that the Biden administration should consider keeping this agreement alive and not for limited periods with a need for renegotiations, as was the case under the Trump administration. AGOA is a domestic piece of legislation, and the desire is that the US should open it up for Africa to trade with the US in a free trade area set-up and allow increased trade and not only with certain commodities.

Regional Integration
Africa wants the Biden administration to fully support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as a flagship project of the African Union. It is envisaged that the African Continental Free Trade Area would be important and central in US/Africa relations. The US is expected to consider easing the movement of business persons between the US and Africa.

This would leverage the economic might of investors and the African diaspora for the socioeconomic development of Africa. It is considered that the US should look to Africa for a larger open market. It should negotiate with Africa under the AfCFTA, rather than dealing exclusively with individual countries on a bilateral basis. This way, it would be departing from the Trump administration’s approach of striking trade deals with individual countries, creating unfair competition amongst African countries – instead enhancing regional integration.

Conflict Resolution
South Africa would want the Biden administration to work with Africa in the theatre of conflict and focus on addressing root causes of clashes in areas with flashpoints. It was argued that the Biden administration should be seen to reverse the Trump administration approach of taking sides in conflicts in Africa. For example, it was indicated in the webinar that the Biden administration should attend to the following:
• In Libya, it should work with Africa and all the actors in the conflict.
• Reverse Trump’s position on Western Sahara and join its European allies to support the resolution of the plight of the Saharawi people.
• Support SADC to address the conflict in Northern Mozambique.
• Reverse the Trump administration's approach of siding with one party in the conflict around the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, involving Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.
• Africa prefers that the US find out how it can assist in silencing the guns in Africa; it should listen to Africa, and act on the basis of hearing what African solutions are.

Complementary Role in Geopolitical Scene
Africa is already working with many partners in its development trajectory. The African countries’ view is that its partnership with the US should not be made subject to it relinquishing long time friendships with a plethora of countries for each country’s sovereign needs. Africa already has partnerships in its development trajectory with Turkey, China, Russia, and others. The US is expected to find ways to work with these partner countries, other than being adversarial, for a coordinated development path for Africa.

Discussion
Mr W Faber ( DA) said the AGOA deal nearly faced collapse a few years ago and South Africa almost lost a lot of export revenue. He asked what is the strategy going forward and are there capable people in place at Department of Trade and Industry to handle the AGOA deal.

Rev K Meshoe (ACDP) asked Dr Zondi to elaborate more on his analysis that South Africa fared better under President Bush than President Obama and President Clinton. He asked what factors influenced this. The American Congress black caucus always speaks in support of Africa. He asked if there are material gains that Dr Zondi can point to that were because of the black caucus.

Mr D Bergman (DA) said it is early to make any fair judgments on the USA. South Africa has not been good partners to the USA and South Africa needs more concessions from the USA. South Africa should be hoping and praying that they get back on AGOA. South Africa needs to look at the trade figures. The point of interest should be the ambassador that gets appointed to the US. BRICS is not as cohesive as it once was, and it is time for South Africa to warm up to the West and form partnerships.

Ms B Swarts (ANC) said when the Republicans are in power bilateral relations always die off between Africa and the US and when Democrats are in power those relations are restarted. What is important for South Africa is the strategic dialogue by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation on US-SA bilateral relations because the on and off situation is a disadvantage to South Africa.

Mr B Nkosi (ANC) said the world is moving more to the right and that is why the Trump Presidency came into play. The move to the right was an attempt to reverse the gains made to the post-1945 world order. Donald Trump cannot be removed from this new conservatism that seeks to influence a new world order. He agreed that it is too early to form an opinion on US-South Africa relations. South Africa needs to realise that the balance of forces has changed. South Africa needs to take this into account in forming new bilateral relations.

The Acting Chairperson asked how South Africa can maximise the African Free Trade Agreement to strengthen its economic relations with the USA. This will ensure that Africa plays a major role as a bloc.

Response
Dr Siphamandla Zondi said perhaps there is something to learn from how previous US administrations interacted with South Africa. It is also depended on who is in charge in South Africa and whether foreign policy takes centre stage at the time. The machinery of Department of International Relations and Cooperation has gone through transformation and is looking very strong at the moment. It is important to have a Minister in place that understands foreign policy. The transition from past ministers has been good and the Zuma administration was unfortunately not focused on foreign policy. The current Ramaphosa administration still needs to find its feet and judgment cannot be made yet as most of first two years has been put on ice due to Covid-19.

South Africa has been riding on the advantage it gained in 1994 but this has dissipated over time; the miracle of transition is slowly coming to and end. South Africa needs to come up with a new strategy and re-evaluate what it is looking for from its partnerships with western countries. South Africa has foreign policy objectives but no clear strategy. A clear strategy needs to be implemented which will form the basis of operations. The problem with South Africa’s foreign policy is a failure to strategise. South Africa needs to have different strategies for different countries, the mode of interacting cannot be the same for all countries. To achieve the goals set out in the NDP for international relations, South Africa needs to start strategising. The contributions by the black caucus within the US Congress have been small, but it is important to have such a voice within the US to lobby for issues affecting Africa. What makes the work of DIRCO difficult is most signed agreements are managed by DIRCO but it has to work with other departments and stakeholders. For example, AGOA is managed by the Department of Trade and Industry but DIRCO essentially is important as it has to manage the relations and start dialogues with partner countries. Agreements needs to be better handled between DIRCO and other departments. There needs to be a system of monitoring agreements and making sure departments meet their objectives. DIRCO needs to take lead in this and ensure that departments understand what is expected from them.

The Acting Chairperson thanked Dr Zondi as this is a very interesting discussion and Dr Zondi made some interesting points. The Committee will use the information to kick start further discussions and this will not be the last time Dr Zondi is called to appear before the Committee.

Meeting adjourned.