[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7256 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7256

  To require a full review of the bilateral relationship between the 
                    United States and South Africa.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2024

  Mr. James (for himself and Mr. Moskowitz) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require a full review of the bilateral relationship between the 
                    United States and South Africa.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``U.S.-South Africa Bilateral 
Relations Review Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The actions of the African National Congress (``ANC''), 
        which since 1994 has held a governing majority and controlled 
        South Africa's executive branch, are inconsistent with its 
        publicly stated policy of nonalignment in international 
        affairs.
            (2) In contrast to its stated stance of nonalignment, the 
        South African Government has a history of siding with malign 
        actors, including Hamas, a U.S. designated Foreign Terrorist 
        Organization and a proxy of the Iranian regime, and continues 
        to pursue closer ties with the People's Republic of China 
        (``PRC'') and the Russian Federation.
            (3) The South African Government's support of Hamas dates 
        back to 1994, when the ANC first came into power, taking a 
        hardline stance of consistently accusing Israel of practicing 
        apartheid.
            (4) Following Hamas' unprovoked and unprecedented 
        horrendous attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, where Hamas 
        terrorists killed and kidnapped hundreds of Israelis, members 
        of the South African Government and leaders of the ANC have 
        delivered a variety of antisemitic and anti-Israel-related 
        statements and actions, including--
                    (A) on October 7, 2023, South Africa's Foreign 
                Ministry released a statement expressing concern of 
                ``escalating violence'', urging Israel's restraint in 
                response, and implicitly blaming Israel for provoking 
                the attack through ``continued illegal occupation of 
                Palestine land, continued settlement expansion, 
                desecration of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Christian holy 
                sites, and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian 
                people'';
                    (B) on October 8, 2023, the ANC's national 
                spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, said of the 
                devastating Hamas attack, ``the decision by 
                Palestinians to respond to the brutality of the settler 
                Israeli apartheid regime is unsurprising'';
                    (C) on October 14, 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosa 
                of South Africa, accused Israel of ``genocide'' in 
                statements during a pro-Palestinian rally;
                    (D) on October 17, 2023, South African Foreign 
                Minister Naledi Pandor accepted a call with Hamas 
                Leader Ismail Haniyeh;
                    (E) on October 22, 2023, South African Foreign 
                Minister Naledi Pandor visited Tehran and met with 
                President Raisi of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which 
                is actively funding Hamas;
                    (F) on November 7, 2023, in a parliamentary address 
                Foreign Minister Pandor called for the International 
                Criminal Court to charge Israeli Prime Minister 
                Benjamin Netanyahu with war crimes;
                    (G) on November 17, 2023, South Africa, along with 
                4 other countries, submitted a joint request to the 
                International Criminal Court for an investigation into 
                war crimes being committed in the Palestinian 
                territories; and
                    (H) on December 29, 2023, South Africa filed a 
                politically motivated suit in the International Court 
                of Justice wrongfully accusing Israel of committing 
                genocide.
            (5) The South African Government has pursued increasingly 
        close relations with the Russian Federation, which has been 
        accused of perpetrating war crimes in Ukraine and 
        indiscriminately undermines human rights. South Africa's robust 
        relationship with Russia spans the military and political 
        space, including--
                    (A) allowing a United States-sanctioned Russian 
                cargo ship, the Lady R, to dock and transfer arms at a 
                South African naval base in December 2022;
                    (B) hosting offshore naval exercises, entitled 
                ``Operation Mosi II'', carried out jointly with the PRC 
                and Russia, between February 17 and 27, 2023, 
                corresponding with the 1-year anniversary of Russia's 
                unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine;
                    (C) authorizing a United States-sanctioned Russian 
                military cargo airplane to land at a South African Air 
                Force Base;
                    (D) reneging on its initial call for the Russian 
                Federation to immediately withdraw its forces from 
                Ukraine and actively seeking improved relations with 
                Moscow since February 2022; and
                    (E) dispatching multiple high-level official 
                delegations to Russia to further political, 
                intelligence, and military cooperation.
            (6) South African Government interactions with the PRC 
        Government and ANC interactions with the Chinese Communist 
        Party (``CCP''), who are committing gross violations of human 
        rights in the Xinjiang province and implement economically 
        coercive tactics around the globe, undermine South Africa's 
        democratic constitutional system of governance, as exemplified 
        in--
                    (A) ongoing ANC and CCP inter-party cooperation, 
                especially with the fundamental incompatibility between 
                the civil and democratic rights guaranteed in South 
                Africa's Constitution and the CCP's routine suppression 
                of free expression and individual rights;
                    (B) the recruitment of former United States and 
                NATO fighter pilots to train Chinese People's 
                Liberation Army pilots at the Test Flying Academy of 
                South Africa which the Department of Commerce added to 
                the Entity List on June 12, 2023;
                    (C) South Africa's hosting of 6 PRC Government-
                backed and CCP-linked Confucius Institutes, a type of 
                entity that a CCP official characterized as an 
                ``important part of the CCP's external propaganda 
                structure'', the most of any country in Africa;
                    (D) South Africa's participation in a political 
                training school opened in Tanzania funded by the 
                Chinese Communist Party where it trains political 
                members of the ruling liberation movements in six 
                Southern African countries. The school instills CCP 
                ideology into the next-generation of African leaders 
                and attempts to export the CCP's system of party-run 
                authoritarian governance to the African continent;
                    (E) cooperation with the PRC under the PRC's global 
                Belt and Road Initiative which, while trade and 
                infrastructure-focused, is designed to expand PRC 
                global economic, political, and security sector-related 
                influence; and
                    (F) the widespread presence in South Africa's media 
                and technology sectors of PRC state linked firms that 
                the United States has restricted due to threats to 
                national security, including Huawei Technologies, ZTE 
                and Hikvision, which place South African sovereignty at 
                risk and facilitate the CCP's export of its model of 
                digitally aided authoritarian governance underpinned by 
                cyber controls, social monitoring, propaganda, and 
                surveillance.
            (7) The ANC-led South African Government has a history of 
        substantially mismanaging a range of state resources and has 
        often proven incapable of effectively delivering public 
        services, threatening the South African people and the South 
        African economy, as illustrated by--
                    (A) President Cyril Ramaphosa's February 9, 2023, 
                declaration of a national state of disaster over the 
                worsening, multi-year power crisis caused by the ANC's 
                chronic mismanagement of the state-owned power company 
                Eskom, resulting from endemic, high-level corruption;
                    (B) the persistence of South African state-owned 
                railway company Transnet's insufficient capacity, which 
                has disrupted rail operations and hindered mining 
                companies' export of iron ore, coal, and other 
                commodities, in part due to malfeasance and corruption 
                by former Transnet officials;
                    (C) an on-going outbreak of cholera, the worst in 
                15 years, which is due in part to the South African 
                Government's disease prevention failures, as President 
                Ramaphosa admitted on June 9, 2023, including a failure 
                to provide clean water to households; and
                    (D) rampant state capture, that emerged and grew 
                during the administration of former President Jacob 
                Zuma and has damaged South Africa's international 
                standing and profoundly undermined the rule of law, 
                continues to negatively impact the economic development 
                prospects and living standards of the South African 
                people while deeply damaging public trust in state 
                governance.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) it is in the national security interest of the United 
        States to deter strategic political and security cooperation 
        and information sharing with the PRC and the Russian 
        Federation, particularly any form of cooperation that may aid 
        or abet Russia's illegal war of aggression in Ukraine or its 
        international standing or influence; and
            (2) the ANC's foreign policy actions have long ceased to 
        reflect its stated stance of nonalignment, and now directly 
        favor the PRC, the Russian Federation, and Hamas, a known proxy 
        of Iran, and thereby undermine United States national security 
        and foreign policy interests.

SEC. 4. PRESIDENTIAL CERTIFICATION OF DETERMINATION WITH RESPECT TO 
              SOUTH AFRICA.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the President, in consultation with the Secretary of State 
and the Secretary of Defense, shall certify to the appropriate 
congressional committees and release publicly an unclassified 
determination explicitly stating whether South Africa has engaged in 
activities that undermine United States national security or foreign 
policy interests.
    (b) Accompanying Report.--The certification required by subsection 
(a) shall be accompanied by an unclassified report submitted to the 
appropriate congressional committees, with a classified annex if 
necessary, providing the justification for the determination.

SEC. 5. FULL REVIEW OF THE BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP.

    (a) Bilateral Relationship Review.--The President, in consultation 
with the Secretary of State, the Administrator of the United States 
Agency for International Development, the Secretary of Defense, the 
United States Ambassador to South Africa, and the heads of other 
departments and agencies that play a substantial role in United States 
relations with South Africa, shall conduct a comprehensive review of 
the bilateral relationship between the United States and South Africa.
    (b) Report on Findings.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report that includes the findings of the 
review required by subsection (a).

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) ANC.--The term ``ANC'' means the African National Congress.
    (b) PRC.--The term ``PRC'' means the People's Republic of China.
    (c) CCP.--The term ``CCP'' means the Chinese Communist Party.
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--The term ``appropriate 
congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
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