SA wants to continue trading with the US, Ramaphosa tells parliament:
South Africa wants to continue trading with the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) despite the ongoing row with the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa said during a question and answer session in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
South Africa’s relationship with Washington has been strained after President Donald Trump castigated South Africa’s Expropriation Act — signed into law in January — saying that it was an attempt to “confiscate land from white farmers”.
“We will continue to engage the US and other stakeholders to correct this mischaracterisation and ensure that we restore ties between our two countries,” Ramaphosa told MPs.
“A lot of work is under way through various channels to ensure the relationship is restored, and I am confident that all the efforts that we are putting in place both diplomatic, political and otherwise will bear fruit.”
Last month Trump said South Africa was doing “terrible things” to its white farmers and offered refuge for farmers and the Afrikaans population, while also cutting financial aid to the country.
On Monday, the presidency said the government had revised its thinking about the purpose of a planned mission to Washington, and now hopes to hold discussions with Trump’s administration on trade rather than reasons behind the diplomatic row with the US.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told the Mail & Guardian the aim was to have talks with decision-makers in Washington on bilateral trade, because duty-free access to the US market under Agoa was undeniably hanging in the balance.
Ramaphosa affirmed on Tuesday that South Africa wants to continue working through the issues in the relationship with the US and maintain trade relations.
The tensions between the two countries risks South Africa being excluded from Agoa, which was introduced under the former US president, George W Bush, and provides duty-free access to the US market for most all products exported from more than 40 eligible sub-Sahara African countries.
Agoa expires in September 2025, but the African countries that benefit from it have been lobbying for its renewal for another 10 years.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that South Africa’s participation in Agoa is at the behest of the US, adding that the country seeks to demonstrate that as much as it imports from the US, it also has value to add through exports of a variety of commodities including minerals, vehicles and agricultural products.
“When I spoke to President Trump when he was president elect, we said we value participation in Agoa but we also sell critical minerals to the US and the relationship is fairly balanced,” he told parliament.
“So many workers benefit from our participation, but at the same time, many other American workers also benefit from what we sell to Agoa. It is balanced and we want to see the mutual benefit carry on into the future.”
He said if South Africa’s participation in Agoa was withdrawn, it would continue to work with other countries around the world and show itself as a “good trading partner” that adheres “to rules and regulations that are put in place to enable our participation in trade agreements whether they are bilateral or multilateral”.
“We continue, not only in anticipation of an Agoa initiative but we continue to expand our export markets for a variety of goods around the world and as we visit various countries we do actively promote our own country, so as to ensure our reliance on various markets becomes a multiplicity of engagements,” Ramaphosa said.
He took a swipe at Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum and union Solidarity, whose leaders have visited the US to further push their argument about what they say is the victimisation of the white minority in post-apartheid South Africa.
The uMkhonto weSizwe party has opened a case of high treason against AfriForum.
On Tuesday Ramaphosa said AfriForum and Solidarity’s activities were unpatriotic but added: “The fact whether that is treasonous or not is a matter that obviously our law enforcement agencies need to at, the National Prosecuting Authority, needs to look at.”
The hate you give: On being queer and Muslim in Cape Town:
When I heard about Imam Muhsin Hendricks’s killing in Gqeberha, it was like a punch to my brain. Though my encounters with Muhsin over the years had been distant — I’m an atheist and he was a believer — news of his death crashed into me like a truck. I felt a boiling up of anger and immense sadness that finally exploded into rage.
His murder, in my opinion, wasn’t random. We still don’t know the exact details, but I believe it was an execution, not a hijacking or a robbery.
Muhsin’s killing is the ultimate expression of the violence that queer Muslims face every day. Social media has only fuelled that violence, creating global communities of hate on every continent with support from fundamentalists in every religious community. These communities of hate applaud autocrats like US President Donald Trump and his all–out assault on the LGBTQI+ community, particularly trans people.
I know the hate and isolation it breeds intimately. It’s been 30 years since members of the Muslim Judicial Council prohibited my family from contacting me because I am an atheist and queer.
But the discrimination based on my sexuality started way before this — in school.
I was in a Muslim primary school where, for three years, I was seriously assaulted daily by other boys. The only time I was safe was if I managed to get out of the classroom before them and run to the girls who would protect me.
If you’re a queer kid or a trans kid in any religious school today — it doesn’t matter if it is a Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Hindu school — you feel that hate even when it is not directed at you. You’re made to feel like you don’t belong in the very community that should offer you sanctuary.
But there are other ways that I was lucky. My mom saved me when I attempted suicide when I was 10 years old. I told her I was in love with another boy and she said, “It’s fine. Just don’t tell anyone.” I would come to learn that depression and mental health issues are often a part of existing as queer in the world.
My mom’s religion was not the religion of hate. She had the greatest faith in God, but I never saw a word of hate come out of her. My father, whom I miss daily, accepted my sexuality, too. It would be my atheism that caused him to ban me from our home in 1994 on instruction from so-called Muslim leaders.
During that time, my mom would call me and say, “Your dad’s not here, come and jump over the wall at the back and come in.” It’s one of the few things in my life that I regret, not spending that time with her. I would tell her, “If you want me to come, you tell him that I’m going to come through the front door.”
The banning from my family came from religious bigots. As an atheist, I consider myself culturally Muslim. But, because of the banning, I can’t be part of Cape Town’s traditional Muslim culture. I can’t attend weddings or speak the Malay Afrikaans of my sisters, brothers, parents and aunts. I can’t eat and laugh at the Eid table or have the kinds of conversation that no one understands except that group of people sitting there.
Divine punishment
Muhsin’s path was different. He went to study to be an imam in countries where you can be stoned to death for being queer, and came back to Cape Town, married a woman and had children.
Coming out for him was an article of faith. He wanted to be open about who he was because, if he lied, he was lying to himself and his God. But first he had to convince himself that he was not a criminal. He had to learn to love himself. And, above all, he had to accept that he was not sick.
It was by breaking that triad of oppression in himself that he could provide a home, the Inner Circle, where queer Muslims can laugh, marry and pray without judgment; where they can be themselves without losing their faith community.
I had a queer family member, also a Muslim, whose story ended up the way too many queer lives end. He knew he was gay but he married a woman and had a child, just like Muhsin. But he would go on sexual binges with men and drug-using benders.
His mental health got so bad that his dad asked me to speak to him because I was living with HIV openly and taking medications. By then he was dying of Aids-related pneumonia and refused treatment because he saw his illness as divine punishment. How can you heal physically when you believe your very existence is a sin?
That says everything about what happens when people use religion to promote hate, division, intolerance and disrespect. It doesn’t matter which religion it is. When you believe you’re a criminal, a sinner and mentally ill on top of all that, it affects everything — how you care for yourself, whether you seek help, how you manage any health conditions.
Many young queer Muslim kids, older queer men and lesbians cannot get access to counselling services, healthcare services, education about health issues or mental health issues. You just don’t want anyone to see you in places where queers gather. The fear of being recognised, ostracised from your community, or even reported to religious authorities, creates insurmountable barriers to accessing essential services.
‘Ons sal nie wegkruip nie’ (We won’t hide)
After Muhsin’s death, there was an outpouring of support from the queer community and some in the Muslim community. Progressive Muslim intellectuals have stood firm, which is remarkable, given the levels of threats against them.
The United Ulama Council of South Africa put out a statement saying, “Islamic teachings and traditions unequivocally prohibit same-sex relationships,” before adding, “However, UUCSA condemns all forms of extrajudicial killings.” The question is whether the word “extrajudicial killing” is deliberately chosen. Does it mean if we get you in Iran, we will make sure your head is cut off or you’re stoned to death?
In 2022, the Muslim Judicial Council, regarded as orthodox yet at times liberal, issued a fatwa — a ruling on a point of Islamic law given — saying that when you’re queer, you put yourself outside the community of faith. That is a code for hate, a wolf whistle. They don’t explicitly say, “Go kill,” they just say, “No Muslim should have contac.t” They somewhat retracted it, but ultimately, the damage is done.
All human beings need to belong somewhere. For some people, belonging is related to faith and culture. For me, it’s related to politics and culture.
What matters is that we create spaces where everyone can belong, where no one has to hide who they are or fear for their lives because of who they love. That’s the legacy Muhsin left us, and it’s one we must fight to protect.
Unless we speak out about his murder, they will come after us one by one. We have to show people: Ons sal nie wegkruip nie (we won’t hide). We may be afraid, but we’re not going to run away.
Zackie Achmat is a socialist who has been active in politics since 1976.
This story was produced by the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. Sign up for the newsletter.
Kelly Smith threatened to stab her son in 2016, social worker tells court:
A social worker told the Western Cape high court on Tuesday that Kelly Smith, the mother of missing child Joslin Smith, threatened to stab her son in 2016 while she was pregnant with Joslin, and was thrown out of the house by her grandmother because of her drug use.
The child has been missing since 19 February 2024.
Speaking through a translator, Siliziwe Mbambo said that according to the case file, Smith’s grandmother contacted the department of social development on 15 February 2016, saying that Smith had been “neglecting her child”.
Mbambo had not been involved in the matter at that time.
“The report also says that [Smith] swore at the child and threatened to stab him,” Mbambo told the court.
Smith had also threatened to assault her grandmother, according to the report, and the woman would seek a protection order.
A week later, the social worker found that Smith’s grandmother had left for the Northern Cape to visit her daughter, the biological mother of Smith. She had taken Smith’s son with her.
The file on the family was sent back to the department’s registry on 31 January 2017, where it remained until it was allocated to an auxiliary social worker on 3 July the same year.
The auxiliary social worker was instructed to visit the family and see whether any services were needed. In the subsequent meeting with Smith’s grandmother, the woman said she had thrown Smith out of her house because she was using drugs.
According to the file, Smith “seldom” made contact with the child, who was by then attending day-care.
The auxiliary social worker said in the file that Smith’s grandmother requested no additional services, and the case was closed on 11 January 2018.
But in March of the same year, Smith arrived at the social development offices in Saldanha Bay asking for help in controlling her tik use, according to the file.
At this stage she was staying with Jose Emke, the father of Joslin Smith, and the child. The file did not say where her son was living.
The relationship between Smith and Emke was abusive, according to the case file. On Monday, witness Natasha Andrews said she had seen Smith with bruises, but did not ask her how she received them.
Smith and accused one Jacquen Appollis, who is also her partner, and accused two Steveno van Rhyn, pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and human trafficking when the trial started last week Monday.
Last year, charges were withdrawn against the fourth accused, Lourentia Lombaard — referred to as Rens or Rensie throughout proceedings — who has turned state witness.
The state alleges in its indictment that Smith “communicated during August 2023 her plan to have her children be taken away or sold”.
“The plan was for this to happen in January or February 2024.”
The matter is being heard at the multi-purpose centre in Saldanha Bay.
Prior to Mbambo giving testimony, the court heard from Kelly Zeegers who, together with her mother Carlyn, employed Smith as a part-time domestic worker, and also looked after Smith’s three children. Carlyn Zeegers testified on Monday.
Kelly Zeegers told the court that she was “frustrated” by the lack of emotion Smith showed over Joslin’s disappearance, and at one stage, while Smith was being interviewed by the media, told her to “at least shed a tear”.
But Zeegers also painted a picture of a mother who was desperately searching for her child — albeit while sometimes high on tik — despite the community getting increasingly angry with her and thinking she was not doing enough.
She said that on the day after Joslin was first reported missing, some local residents went to her home to get information to help in the search. Kelly, however, said she was “nauseous”.
Said Zeegers: “I got a little upset with her, saying ‘this is your child’. I took her to the bathroom and said ‘okay, throw up’, but she didn’t. So we went back to the front of the house and [the residents] asked Kelly questions.”
Zeegers said she could not eat or sleep during this time, but Smith had no problem doing either.
“She was very calm, although I know we deal with emotions differently. I took her on about her being a mother and asked her if she felt anything. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. She kept on eating and she slept.”
During cross-examination by Smith’s attorney, Rinesh Sivnarain, Zeegers agreed that Smith had been advised by the police not to continue participating in the searches.
Previous testimony indicates that residents were becoming increasingly suspicious of and hostile towards Smith, in the days after the child went missing.
Sivnarain also tried to clarify where exactly Smith had received money from to buy groceries.
Zeegers and her mother had been a regular supplier of foodstuff for Smith and her family, according to their testimony.
But after Joslin’s disappearance, Zeegers said she had run into Smith with a full trolley of groceries, outside a Checkers.
Said Sivnarain: “She was able to buy those with money she got from Gayton McKenzie [the Patriotic Alliance leader].
Zeegers said that could well be the case, because Smith had mentioned who had given her the money for food, but she could not remember.
“McKenzie had given her R1000 and that is where she got the money to purchase the groceries. He also purchased clothing for my client and her children,” said Sivnarain.
The matter continues.
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