Hands Off South Africa: US Sanctions Bill is Neo-Colonial Arrogance Masquerading as Foreign Policy

The recent introduction of the "US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act of 2025" is not just another policy manoeuvre in Washington’s imperial playbook. It is a full-frontal attack on South African sovereignty, a slap in the face to the African liberation legacy, and a dangerous reminder that Western imperialism never sleeps—it only shapeshifts.

This bill, which seeks to impose sanctions on senior African National Congress (ANC) officials over alleged ties to Iran, China, and Russia, is nothing short of a neocolonial threat dressed in diplomatic garb. Let it be known: this is not about democracy, human rights, or national security. This is about control. This is about empire. And most dangerously, it is about punishing Africans for choosing their friends and charting their course in a multipolar world.

South Africa’s Crime? Refusing to Be a Puppet

The United States, through this bill, accuses South Africa of undermining its national security interests. But who gave the US the moral or legal right to dictate the foreign policy of a sovereign African state? The same US that armed apartheid South Africa, vetoed UN resolutions against the regime, and labelled Nelson Mandela a terrorist until 2008?

South Africa's alleged sin is its principled stance on Palestine, its refusal to parrot Western talking points on the Ukraine war, and its increasing diplomatic, economic, and strategic alignment with emerging powers like China, Russia, and Iran—nations that, unlike the US, did not colonise Africa, did not enslave its people, and did not loot its natural wealth for centuries.

South Africa's support for oppressed peoples—from the people of Gaza to the people of Western Sahara—is consistent with its Pan-African, anti-apartheid, anti-colonial legacy. The ANC has always stood against imperialism, racism, and occupation. That is not terrorism. That is moral clarity.

The Real Terrorists Wore Western Suits

Let us be clear: it was not Iran, China, or Russia that built the slave ships. It was not Hamas that colonized the Congo or carved up Africa at the Berlin Conference. The nations most responsible for mass death, displacement, and destruction across the world—from Hiroshima to Haiti, from Libya to Iraq—are the same ones now trying to sanction South Africa for daring to breathe freely.

The US government brands Hamas a terrorist organization, but remains the largest arms supplier to the apartheid regime of Israel, whose genocidal war in Gaza has already killed over 45,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children. And they dare to sanction South Africa—the country that dared to take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide?

This is hypocrisy at its most violent and vile. It is a message to the Global South: if you dare stand up to the empire, you will be punished.

The ANC’s Legacy is Pan-African and Anti-Imperialist

The African National Congress is not perfect. Like any movement, it has its internal contradictions and challenges. But one thing is clear: its history is rooted in resistance to colonialism, apartheid, and imperialism. From its armed struggle days through uMkhonto we Sizwe to its diplomatic solidarity with oppressed peoples, the ANC's compass has always pointed toward freedom, justice, and internationalism.

This bill is an insult to that legacy. It seeks to isolate and punish Africa's most important liberation movement because it refuses to be a junior partner in America's imperial order. But let it be known—Africa is no longer a playground of empires.

Multipolarity is Not a Threat—It is Liberation

The United States fears multipolarity because it spells the end of unipolar dominance. But for Africa, multipolarity is an opportunity. An opportunity to diversify partnerships, to build infrastructure without political blackmail, to trade fairly, and to reclaim sovereignty from Bretton Woods institutions and warmongering alliances.

South Africa’s ties with BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) are not betrayals of the West—they are rejections of dependency. They are expressions of a deeper commitment to African dignity and development. They are declarations that Africa will no longer be a pawn in someone else's cold war.

Sanctions are Economic Apartheid
The threat of US sanctions must be called what it is: economic sabotage. Sanctions are not neutral tools. They are acts of war. They are modern-day blockades that seek to isolate, destabilize, and crush any nation that refuses to bend the knee. From Zimbabwe to Cuba, from Venezuela to Iran, sanctions have caused mass suffering, hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, and social collapse—not for the elite, but for the masses. And now the US wants to bring this scorched-earth strategy to South Africa?

Enough Lectures from Empire
The United States has no moral ground to lecture South Africa—or any African country—on who it associates with. This is the same US that continues to support colonial settler states like Israel, that props up dictatorships when it suits their interests, and that has left a trail of blood, coups, and destabilization across the African continent—from Patrice Lumumba to Muammar Gaddafi. This bill is not about values. It’s about control. It’s about reminding South Africa of its "place." It is a 21st-century Diktat, an attempt to recolonize African diplomacy through coercion.

Pan-Africanism Must Respond With One Voice

Now is the time for Pan-African unity. If South Africa is punished today, tomorrow it will be Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Zimbabwe. Africa must reject these sanctions in principle and practice. The African Union, SADC, ECOWAS, and all regional bodies must stand with South Africa. This is not about one country—this is about African sovereignty.

The struggle for self-determination didn’t end in the 1960s. It continues in boardrooms, in parliaments, in UN chambers, and in the hearts of all those who believe Africa deserves more than aid, debt, and orders from Washington.

Final Word: Africa Will Not Bow
To the authors of this bill in the US Congress: we see you. We see your double standards, your historical amnesia, and your attempts to reassert global hegemony through economic bullying. But Africa is not afraid. Not anymore. From Accra to Addis Ababa, from Soweto to Kinshasa, we raise one voice: Hands off South Africa. Hands off Africa. The era of subservience is over. The era of resistance has returned. And this time, we will not be colonized again—economically, militarily, or diplomatically. Africa must unite—or perish divided.