The ANC National General Council (NGC) is set to deliberate on how to respond to right-wing organisations that are backing what the party describes as a US–led disinformation campaign against South Africa.
Speaking to Sunday World on the sidelines of the NGC at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Boksburg on Tuesday, the ANC’s first deputy Secretary General, Nomvula Mokonyane, said the party must determine how to address this “racist minority”.
Emergence of global right wing politics
“What we see, and what we will be deliberating here, is the growing convergence of right-wing politics globally, led by the United States against progressive forces,” Mokonyane said.
“They collaborate with a tiny minority in South Africa. Our discussion is about what we do with racists in South Africa who are insignificant in number but heavily resourced by multinational formations. How do we manage them within a constitutional democracy?”
AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement have played a prominent role in shaping US perceptions of South Africa’s land-expropriation policy, minority-rights debates, and Afrikaner concerns.
These groups have also appealed to US president Donald Trump for intervention. They are supporting the statesman’s “white genocide” claims, which have been widely dismissed as fabricated. Despite this, only small numbers of Afrikaners have taken up the US’s asylum offer.
Mokonyane, who also chairs the ANC’s NEC subcommittee on International Relations, accused Trump of relying on disinformation to damage South Africa’s image.
“He hates black people and is anti-development,” she claimed.
US meddling in other countries
“Look at what they are doing in Venezuela, Palestine, and their opportunistic interventions between Rwanda and the DRC. It’s about minerals and maintaining dominance for those who have long benefited from their economic influence.”
According to Mokonyane, the heightened tensions between Washington and Pretoria should serve as a wake-up call for South Africa to diversify its economic partnerships.
The US remains one of South Africa’s major trading partners, consistently ranking among its largest, with substantial trade in precious metals, vehicles, agricultural products, and major investments from US companies.
“In fact, this is a re-awakening. We cannot be a nation that is solely reliant on the US, they also depend on us,” she said.
“The relationship has soured, and uncertainty about future trade arrangements has grown. We must start strengthening ties within our own region.”
US G20 snub
Mokonyane further argued that South Africa’s participation in next year’s G20 Summit does not depend on the US. This is despite Trump threatening to bar South Africa from attending the event, which will be hosted in the US.
“They must include all G20 members. We did not apply to the US, nor were we invited by them to be part of the G20. It is not theirs to gatekeep,” she said.
“We are the ANC. We know we have enemies abroad. But the people of the US are not our enemies, it is Donald Trump and his administration.”
This year Trump boycotted the G20 Summit. But he expected President Cyril Ramaphosa to hand over the presidency to a junior official from the US Embassy. The presidency declined.
