South Africa has an odd relationship with the US. The countries are far apart in geography and influence, and SA is not a particularly large terrorism concern for the US although cases do pop up every now and then. The histories of the two countries are not particularly intertwined in the same way they are with some European countries. In the world of US diplomacy, SA is a low priority for reasons both positive and negative. Yet there are two very crucial bilateral aspects of the relationship, and one multilateral. First, there is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which is the major force behind providing about 3.7-million South Africans with anti-retroviral treatment. This programme was introduced by former president George Bush and so far the US has spent about R70bn in SA since 2004. How many lives this has saved is hard to know, but "countless" would be an adequate description. Second, there is Agoa, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which was introduced by f...
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