Just 5 weeks ago Cyril Ramaphosa was sitting next to Donald Trump in the Whitehouse hoping to ignite trade relations between SA and the USA. Nothing was reported to the people of SA as the SA delegation had been given some home work to complete before trade could be discussed.
Here is a quick update on what the SA delegation has to deal with before anyone can sit around a table negotiating any trade deals. Ramaphose showed how desperate he was during that meeting as he mentioned the word trade a number of times and was ignored. You could tell he was nervous and must have known trade was never going to be discussed.
These 4 points listed above are all that is required, but they are actually very big for the ANC. Admitting there is a problem with farm attacks would show that they have not taken them seriously enough and then admitting that there is a problem. The Hawks is a specialized investigative unit that the government has tried to disband a number of times as they investigate everyone including corrupt government ministers.
Condemning the song "Kill The Boer" would only alienate the party from the people even more as this would be seen as siding with the white population and a sign of weakness. Yes the people are that simple as the vast majority are uneducated.
The land expropriation act as far as I know has only been used on abandoned buildings in the Johannesburg city center. The plan is to clean the city center up whilst helping themselves to the buildings at no cost besides total renovation or demolition resulting in free land. No businesses today function in the city center as it is a no go zone.
The exemption for US companies when it comes to BEE requirements is another big deal that the locals will not like. Little do they understand that this is holding back business from any investor and thus has stagnated the economy. Having penalties imposed on any company especially telling them their partners have to be black and this is again seen as a weakness by the people with the ANC if they agree.
Can you imagine the US companies that are already here in SA would gladly drop their BEE partners overnight. Amazon, Jeep, IBM, Ford, Google, Caltex, Goodyear, Firestone,3M and Caterpillar just to name a few. It is hard enough doing business in SA let alone without having to pay out investors you do not need and offer you no help. Being told who to hire even when you know it is not the right candidate because the laws are not on your side.
The longer this is ignored the worse off the SA economy is going to be and the cracks are already appearing in the economy. This is not just because of the US tariffs, but a whole combination of reasons which the tariffs have helped speed up.
Mercedes announced that they will be closing down their manufacturing plant for the month of July. This is already on the news earlier in the year they were cutting from 3 shifts to 2 and suggested they will be down to a single shift by the end of 2025. Each shift is 700 jobs lost and jobs in the Eastern Cape are non existent.
The motor industry dominates the Eastern Cape economy and remove those manufacturers and there is nothing left. Goodyear announced their closure last month.
A town/city like East London is supported by the Mercedes plant and if that shuts down it will have dire consequences for the entire region. The fallout would be a terminal blow to the region as sub contractors, suppliers, logistics companies and the Port of East London are all on the chopping block. Having the plant shut down for an entire month for those people and companies that rely on them for their income is disastrous.
The Eastern Cape region is a hot bed for ANC support and I read a report Volkswagen shut it's plant down for the month of May. This is more than just US tariffs though and is the government not protecting the industry that is already here by allowing cheap Chinese imports with no to little tariffs. An unemployed voter is going to think twice when voting next time around.
