5 Ways South Africa Undermines U.S. Interests — and What Must Change

The United States must increase pressure on South Africa to reverse five of its harmful policies. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s arrival in Washington this week to meet with President Donald Trump offers the administration an opportunity to take stock of a bilateral relationship that is increasingly out of line with American interests and values.

South Africa may be a democracy with strategic geography and abundant resources, but under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), the government has chosen to align itself with terrorist organizations, authoritarian regimes, and anti-Western blocs. These policies undermine U.S. national security, embolden malign actors, and erode the foundations of a cooperative relationship.

If South Africa seeks to repair and restore its partnership with the United States, Trump should demand the reversal of the following key policies.

1. South Africa has strengthened its strategic alignment with China.

South Africa has deepened its strategic relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). To this day, the CCP provides political party training to ANC officials, supports ANC-linked state-owned enterprises, and partners with ANC-led institutions in support of the anti-Western BRICS framework, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Moreover, at Beijing’s behest, South Africa has pressured Taiwan since at least October 2024 to relocate its de facto embassy from Pretoria to Johannesburg and downgrade it to a trade office. Meanwhile, South African schools such as Stellenbosch University openly advertise the progress they have made in quantum communications in partnership with Chinese universities and researchers affiliated with the Chinese military.

What Must Change

South Africa must cease its diplomatic pressure campaign targeting Taiwan, refrain from further action on behalf of China’s coercive foreign policy, and eliminate strategic research partnerships involving Chinese military-linked researchers and universities.

2. South Africa has deepened its diplomatic and military ties with Russia.

Even after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, South Africa has moved closer to Moscow. It has hosted joint naval exercises with Russia and China, welcomed U.S.-sanctioned Russian warships, and, according to President Ramaphosa, “continue[s] to see Russia as a valued ally.” South Africa’s minerals and petroleum resources minister, Gwede Mantashe, has gone so far as to suggest his country should be open to nuclear cooperation with Russia and Iran.

What Must Change

South Africa must publicly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, suspend all military cooperation with Moscow, align with global efforts to support Ukrainian sovereignty, and impose economic, diplomatic, and military consequences on Putin’s regime.

3. South Africa has bolstered its commercial and strategic ties to Iran.

South Africa’s economic entanglements with the regime in Iran — particularly its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which Washington has designated as a foreign terrorist organization — raise serious national security concerns.

From 2002 to 2013, Ramaphosa served as the board chair of MTN Group, Iran’s second-largest telecom provider which owns nearly half of Irancell, a joint venture linked to the IRGC. The Islamic Republic’s telecommunications sector is a key tool for the regime’s domestic surveillance, censorship, and potential sanctions evasion.

According to U.S. court documents advanced on behalf of American armed services members murdered by IRGC-linked groups in Iraq and Afghanistan, MTN entered Iran in 2005 by bribing Iran’s deputy foreign minister in a secretive backchannel effort that MTN called Project Snooker. Meanwhile, Ramaphosa’s special envoy to the United States, Mcebisi Jonas, currently serves as MTN’s chairman.

What Must Change

South Africa must divest MTN’s stake in Irancell, conduct an independent investigation into Project Snooker, and ensure no South African firms are enabling the IRGC’s sanctions evasion or intelligence operations.

4. South Africa has sought to delegitimize Israel at the International Court of Justice.

South Africa has transformed itself into Hamas’s lawyer on the international stage. Pretoria launched its opening lawfare salvo against the Jewish state at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023, falsely accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Pretoria’s case, which then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described as “meritless,” relies on distortions and decontextualized quotes from Israeli leaders. Likewise, South Africa’s allegation ignores the great lengths to which Israel has gone to avoid civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, ANC officials — including Ramaphosa — have repeatedly reaffirmed their support for what they call “accountability for Israel’s crimes” without demonstrating equal concern for Hamas’s atrocities.

What Must Change

South Africa must withdraw its ICJ case, condemn Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, and end its campaign of political warfare against Israel.

5. South Africa has provided political support to Hamas and Hezbollah.

South Africa has become a hub of legitimization and coordination for Hamas and Hezbollah. The country hosted Hamas delegations in2015, when senior Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal and Mousa Abu Marzouk met with ANC leaders and signed a letter of intent aimed at, according to the ANC secretary-general at the time, “building a long-lasting relationship” between the ANC and Hamas. During the same visit, Mashaal spoke at a conference organized by the ANC and promised Hamas would continue its wave of “Jerusalem intifada” attacks against Israel. In 2018, Hamas leaders signed another memorandum of understanding with ANC officials in Johannesburg focused on advancing the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

Days after the October 7 massacre, then-South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor personally called the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to discuss providing support to Gaza. In November 2023, Pandor and Ramaphosa met with the leaders of Qatar, Hamas’s top financial and political backers. In 2024, South Africa hosted a delegation of senior Hamas officials at the Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine.

South African officials have also met with Hezbollah representatives in Lebanon, including the group’s head of Arab and international relations, Ammar al-Moussawi. Meanwhile, South Africa’s state-owned State Diamond Trader has counted a Hezbollah-linked diamond trading company as one of its top 10 buyers. In April 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned State Diamond Trader.

What Must Change

South Africa must immediately sever all political and diplomatic ties with Hamas and Hezbollah, ban future visits by their officials, and publicly disavow past memoranda and bilateral engagements.

Max Meizlish is a senior research analyst for the Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where David May is a research manager and senior research analyst, and Melissa Sacks is director of network analysis. For more analysis from Max, David, Melissa, and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Max and David on X @maxmeizlish and @DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.