Kennedy Introduces Senate Version of Bill to Punish South Africa for Anti-American Policies

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced legislation Monday to punish South Africa for its anti-American policies, creating a companion bill to House legislation introduced earlier by Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX).

The bill, S. 2752, the U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act, has the same name as its House counterpart.

A press statement from Kennedy’s office said:

The chronically mismanaged government of South Africa has repeatedly acted against the interests of the United States and its allies, particularly by using its role on international bodies to advance outlandish anti-U.S., pro-Russia, pro-Hamas and pro-China narratives.

In particular, South African officials have inflamed tensions with the United States by appointing Ebrahim Rasool, a radical official who hosted senior Hamas officials in South Africa and described President Donald Trump as “a white supremacist,” as its Ambassador to the United States. Its government has further glorified anti-Israel terrorists, blamed Israel for the October 7 terror attacks and threatened to arrest and strip the citizenship of Israeli-South Africans serving in the Israeli Defense Forces.

The South African regime has also repeatedly aligned itself with U.S. adversaries in Europe and Asia, hosting joint naval exercises with Russia and China and allowing a U.S.-sanctioned Russian cargo ship to dock on its shores. It has benefited extensively from China’s belt-and-road initiative, becoming reliant on Chinese-linked firms that the United States has restricted due to national security threats.

In response, Kennedy’s U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act would:

• Require a comprehensive review of the bilateral U.S.-South Africa relationship and a certification from the President on whether South Africa undermines U.S. national security interests.

• Require a classified list of South African government officials and members of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, eligible for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act.

• End South Africa’s eligibility to benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

Full text of the bill is available here.

The text of the Senate bill is almost identical to that of the House bill, H.R. 2633. Notably, the Senate bill identifies the entire African National Congress as the problem, while the House bill refers to “factions” of that party.

The fact that the bill has been introduced in both chambers by Republicans who are in the majority substantially increases the chances that it will be enacted.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) may be obsolete in any case, if President Donald Trump’s tariffs remain in place.