US President Barack Obama returns to South Africa later this week for the first time since he took office in 2009 to a mixed reception – the South African government is warmly hailing him but virulent opposition has come from the ANC’s alliance partner and elements of the Muslim fraternity.
While the focus of the official visit, which includes bilateral talks between President Jacob Zuma and Obama, will be on fostering trade relations, Cosatu has whipped up unprecedented opposition to the trip. This has prompted the DA, which failed in its bid to grant Obama the Freedom of the City of Cape Town in person, to call for the ANC to ignore its alliance partner’s “anti-Obama demonstrations”.
The Muslim Lawyers’ Association said it intended taking the National Prosecuting Authority to court for refusing to arrest Obama when he visited.
DA foreign affairs spokesman Ian Davidson said Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane should distance herself from Cosatu.
“This is President Obama’s first state visit to South Africa and [it] is a significant event for the country to further our relations with the US. It should not be blighted by Cosatu’s cheap political point scoring,” Davidson said.
Obama last visited South Africa in August 2006 in his capacity as senator for Illinois. He spent time in Gauteng, where he toured the Hector Pieterson Museum with Hector’s sister, Antoinette Sithole.
He said that the Soweto uprisings had inspired him to get involved in politics. He also visited Cape Town as the guest of the SA Institute of International Affairs.
Cosatu’s international relations secretary, Bongani Masuku, called on workers “to actively participate in the coming protests” against Obama’s visit. He cited a litany of US foreign policy sins, including the militarisation of international relations “for the multinational companies and their profit seeking classes in the US”.
Cosatu specifically objected to US support “for oppressive regimes” that benefited its “narrow interests”, and argued that US policies perpetuated “unequal and exploitative trade relations and underdevelopment in Africa and the rest of the developing world”.
“We call on all workers, communities and activists, particularly working with our alliance partners, the SACP and the ANC… to join the announced activities through the country, to demand an end to US warmongering and for a new foreign policy based on respect for human dignity and justice for the people of the world, including the people of the US itself.”
Masuku accused the US embassies in Bolivia and Venezuela of interfering with the governments of those countries while spreading its military across the world from Bahrain, Djibouti, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Kyrgystan.
South African Deputy International Relations Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim downplayed concerns about protests. He said the visit was important for the economy. Sapa reported him saying: “As far as protests are concerned, of course South Africa is a free, democratic country and anyone who wants to protest for whatever reason will have the right.”
Ebrahim said it was important that the US president was visiting South Africa.
“We have very good political and economic relations. The US is an important player and we think we would benefit from discussing with the US the problems of Africa,” he said.
Talks between South Africa and the US are expected to focus on trade matters, including the “re-authorisation” of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) beyond its expiry in 2015.
In a visit to South Africa late last year, US undersecretary of commerce for international trade Francisco Sanchez said that the House of Representatives and the Senate had “a lot of discretion” and it would be “nice and neat” to provide a new time period.
US Embassy spokesman Jack Hillmeyer said at the weekend that there “is bipartnership support for Agoa renewal”. The US government was “committed to push for renewal for the 2015 [deadline] for all countries”.
However, it is understood that there are concerns that South Africa is not entirely coming to the party by bilaterally matching the huge benefits granted by the US. There are concerns about South African chicken exports to the US and about the impact of BEE requirements making it difficult for international investors to invest in South Africa.
Agoa provides preferential access to the US for 7 000 scheduled products, including clothing, agricultural products and motor vehicles.
Trudi Hartzenberg, the director of the Trade Law Centre (Tralac), previously reported “quite an array” of products benefited from the duty-free, quota-free access, particularly the automotive value chain.
Eckart Naumann, a Tralac researcher, reported that South African vehicles accounted for 3.2 percent of total US imports in 2009 in the 1 500cc to 3 000cc engine category, up from 2.9 percent in 2008. In 2009, about 90 percent of fruit and juice imports from Africa came from South Africa.
It is not clear whether or not the US will consider re-establishing the bi-national commission with South Africa, which was previously chaired by Al Gore and Zuma as vice and deputy presidents of their countries. Obama, however, is known to be committed to reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade.
Last year, South African ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool said Agoa was balanced and benefited both parties.
“We are beginning to understand that the Agoa is not a one-way exercise of the US kindness towards South Africa and Africa. It’s a two-way street, a win-win situation,” Rasool said.