GNU parties will meet to smooth out foreign policy differences, says Steenhuisen

The Government of National Unity (GNU) will hold a lekgotla to try to get the 10 parties in the GNU “on the same page when it comes to foreign policy”, said the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen.

He was elaborating on the weekend agreement of the leaders of the GNU parties for “further engagement on South Africa’s international relations to develop a common understanding of the national interest”.

The agreement was part of the statement which the party leaders issued on Monday after what they called their “highly-productive” two-day retreat at the Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng.

“So there’s agreement that we will have a session on national interest like we did with the lekgotla on the economy,” Steenhuisen told Daily Maverick, referring to the meeting on the economy that was held in Pretoria in September.

At the upcoming foreign policy lekgotla, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola would be expected to give a presentation on SA’s foreign policy and there would then be a discussion on “how we get the GNU on the same page when it comes to foreign policy, and where we have issues … where we have differences, and how we can smooth those out”.

ANC’s monopoly

The ANC has effectively maintained a monopoly on foreign policy in the GNU, and Lamola has suggested it doesn’t need to consult GNU partners because foreign policy is so clearly rooted in South Africa’s Constitution, in other legislation and in the Statement of Intent of the GNU parties.

The DA and some other parties have disagreed with this.

Daily Maverick asked Steenhuisen what he saw as the main differences in foreign policy within the GNU.

“South Africa’s got to move towards being genuinely non-aligned,” he replied.

“Non-aligned in name only is not good enough,” he added, referring to the ANC’s insistence that it is “non-aligned” on global disputes, particularly Russia’s war against Ukraine. The DA, like some other observers, believes the ANC is in fact aligned with Russia.

Read more: ANC is ’monopolising’ SA’s foreign policy by sidelining the GNU, DA complains

Steenhuisen suggested that SA could learn from eastern countries like India, Malaysia and Vietnam on how to be non-aligned, “and able to trade with both sides of the world. I think that’s where South Africa’s got to position itself, where we’re not dealing with people on an ideological basis.”

Apart from Russia-Ukraine, the DA has disagreed sharply with the ANC on other foreign policy issues, notably on China. It criticised the  ANC-dominated government for its decision to evict Taiwan from its office in Pretoria, South Africa’s political capital, and forcing it to relocate to Johannesburg, the commercial capital. This has largely been seen as the ANC succumbing to pressure from Beijing.

Read more: SA government officially withdraws recognition of Taiwan’s office in Pretoria

The DA has also criticised the then ANC government’s referral of Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2023 for alleged genocide in Gaza and has rebuked it for its close ties with Iran.

Steenhuisen said that after a settling-in period, the GNU was entering “a more mature phase. There’s a realisation now that we all need each other.”

He noted that drafting the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, for example, had been more consensual than the drafting of the Budget earlier this year.

“We’ve been allowed to make submissions… So it’s been a much better process than just the lump it or leave it approach of the Budget.”

Steenhuisen said both the ANC and the DA were slowly starting to unlearn their “muscle memory”.  The muscle memory of the ANC had been “we’re in charge. We don’t need to consult anybody,” he claimed.

“And the DA’s muscle memory has been just to oppose everything the ANC put on the table.”

Trade relations

Steenhuisen said the GNU should be conducting its trade policies in a more pragmatic way, putting the national interest first.

“Given the US’s upending of the world trade system, and the way trade is done, I think we’re going to have to relook at free trade agreements. And a very good example is, China’s given us tariff-free access to their market, but we can’t take advantage of it because of Eswatini, and because of Sacu,” said Steenhuisen, referring to the Southern African Customs Union.

China recently announced that it would offer duty-free access to its market for all African countries with which it has diplomatic relations. Eswatini is the only African country that is excluded because it recognises Taiwan, not China.

South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho are members of Sacu. This means all five countries have a common trade policy and have to negotiate trade deals as one.

He said SA’s hands were tied, and they could also be in trying to negotiate tariffs with other eastern countries like India and Japan, where there was a large appetite for free trade agreements with SA.

South Africa needed to take another look at the Sacu infrastructure to see whether it was in the country’s best interests as it sought to diversify its exports, said Steenhuisen.

He nevertheless noted that he was trying to negotiate a purely bilateral trade deal with Japan in which Japan would drop its 15 % tariffs on South African wine imports in exchange for South Africa removing restrictions on the import of Japanese sake rice wine.

This could “massively” boost wine exports to Japan.

He had also seen a huge opportunity for exports of food products to Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia on his recent visit to those countries, which were in the Northern Hemisphere, so South Africa could supply them with many products in their off-season.

He said that over the past 20 years, South Africa had become “quite lazy” in failing to diversify its exports, resting on the laurels of its good trade with the US and European Union.

“There’s a whole world out there. Asean, 700 million people, 700 million mouths to feed,” he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

US relations

Daily Maverick asked Steenhuisen how close he thought South Africa was to reaching a deal with the US, which would include a reduction in the crippling 30% “reciprocal” import tariff that President Donald Trump slapped on this country.

He said he thought South Africa was getting closer to a deal.

“Things are progressing. The Americans have asked us to come back. And I think we’re sending a delegation shortly back there, but it will be a technical delegation. But the talks are ongoing.”

Read more: Agoa has officially lapsed but US mulls one-year extension 

He said there was also a lot of upward pressure on the Trump administration from consumers and US companies to lower tariffs.

“Walmart’s shut down a number of their stores. And there’s a number of court cases against the federal government, against the tariffs. And producers and retailers are saying, ‘We’re not sucking this up, we’re passing it on.’ And so the American consumers, I think, are starting to push back against it.”

He said the US was getting a good deal from SA in agricultural goods, “excellent quality at excellent prices”, especially when the exchange rate was taken into account.

It helped that he had recently signed off on a deal to allow US blueberries into South Africa.

He cautioned that much of the problem that the Trump administration had with South Africa was more about politics than trade.

He said he had told the Americans that it took much longer to change things like BEE in South Africa than it would in the US, as it had to go through Parliament.

“The [South African] President doesn’t wake up in the morning and sign an executive order. He doesn’t have that power.”

Steenhuisen said he hoped that when the new US ambassador arrived in South Africa, he would explain these things to Washington. Trump’s nominee, Leo Brent Bozell III, had his confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently, but the committee still has to approve him before the decision goes to the full Senate.

Read more: Trump’s pick for ambassador to SA evades questions on race-based voting and refugee policies

Steenhuisen shares the opinion of several others that President Ramaphosa’s investment counsellor, Alistair Ruiters, who is leading the trade negotiations with the US, would be “an excellent choice” as South Africa’s next ambassador to Washington. Steenhuisen thought he would get the job.

“He’s very pragmatic. He’s a bureaucrat. He’s precisely what we need in Washington.

“He doesn’t have any political baggage. He doesn’t even have a Twitter account,” he added, hinting that this meant Ruiters had not publicly uttered anything negative about Trump. DM