LETTER: ANC wants its Agoa cake and eat it

For many months the government has been lobbying the US openly to renew the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa), which bestows meaningful trade benefits on us.

Yet this same government votes against the US and its allies in the West at every opportunity, especially at the UN. Despite the pretence of nonalignment, we are clearly and publicly in Russia’s corner in its unjust invasion of Ukraine.

Now we see our president and his cabinet running around in Hamas scarves and meeting openly with Iran, the arch-enemy of the West and sponsor of terror worldwide.

SA leaders are in many cases clearly antisemitic, though many Jews fought in “the struggle”, with many of them spending years on the banned list, imprisoned and even losing their lives.

We are now seen overseas as a member of the “axis of evil” and will either lose our right to Agoa benefits or start experiencing other trade and aid issues. Once again we open our mouths merely to change feet.

David Wolpert
Sydney, Australia

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