Solidarity Movement welcomes criticism in US Congress about direction of ANC government

28 September 2023

The Solidarity Movement welcomed a series of sharp statements by the chairman of the Africa subcommittee in the US Congress in Washington DC yesterday. John James, a black Republican from Michigan, said during a public hearing on the relationship between South Africa and the US that under the ANC government, South Africa has fallen into a vicious spiral of corruption, state capture and increasing government dependence, and that the government has moved away from the values proffered by the ANC government in the 1990s.

During a visit to Washington last week, the Solidarity Movement handed several documents to James’ policy chief. These included documents about state capture, the intended expropriation without compensation, centralisation of power, as well as crime figures, including those of farm murders. According to Werner Human, the Solidarity Movement’s head of operations, several of the Movement’s arguments were used by James and his fellow congressmen during yesterday’s hearings. “It is clear to us that a very strong voice against the ANC’s abuse of power is emerging in the US Congress. We welcome it.”

The Solidarity Movement is currently on an extensive visit to the USA during which information about events in South Africa is made available to policy makers, as well as concrete proposals on what the USA can do to help protect the rule of law in South Africa, and what can be done to put a stop to South Africa's increasingly centralist and anti-Western policies. According to Jaco Kleynhans, the Solidarity Movement’s head of international liaison, they have been in constant contact with members of the US Congress about this in recent months, as well as with politicians in several American states.

“We expect that the pressure on the ANC government will increase significantly in the months to come. While yesterday’s hearing in Washington gave us a taste of that, we also expect that politicians in several federal states will soon take a strong stand against the centralisation of power by the ANC, new discrimination against minorities in South Africa, ongoing state capture and corruption by the ANC, the EFF and certain ANC politicians’ racist rhetoric, as well as taking a stand against the government’s pro-China and pro-Russia policy which is increasingly also taking on an anti-Western colour.”

James was particularly critical of the ANC’s planned legislation on expropriation without compensation and the deterioration of democracy in South Africa. “There is no country in the world that has remained democratic after removing its population’s private property rights and I remain concerned about the ANC’s democratic drift away from democracy and constitutional rule, especially in light of the Electoral Amendment Act being signed into law in April – legislation that undermines the fundamental democratic principle of proportional representation.”

According to Human, the Solidarity Movement submitted both the proposed amendment to section 25 of the Constitution, the so-called property clause, and the Expropriation Bill to James’s policy chief. “South Africa as a supposed constitutional democracy, enshrined private property rights in 1996 in the Constitution, with an essential clause that states that no property may be expropriated without compensation. The ANC is now bent on changing this, thus following the route of Venezuela and others in overturning the democratic imperative of property rights. The Bill dealing with the amendment to the Constitution is attached hereto. Following a first round of public hearings and obtaining input the process stalled. However, the matter may reignite at any moment,” according to Human.

According to Kleynhans, the Solidarity Movement plans to help steer South Africa’s policy direction in the right direction over the next few months through extensive pressure coming from the US. “Today we once again called on politicians not to punish ordinary people in South Africa through harsher trade restrictions and similar measures but to criticise more severely the ANC’s corruption, mismanagement, discrimination and ideologically-driven foreign policy and to further isolate the ANC government. We are also working on a comprehensive plan to lobby support in the US for civil society in South Africa. Yesterday’s hearing in Washington helped in creating momentum for this.”

Read the full statement by congressman John James here.

Issued by Jaco Kleynhans, Head: International Liaison, Solidarity Movement, 28 September 2023