World
Anger rises over South Africa making millions in US benefits while cozying up to Iran, Russia and Hamas
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa is under fire for spending millions of dollars talking to terror group Hamas and sending delegations for cozy negotiations with U.S. adversaries Russia and Iran. Some critics say the money would be better spent tackling the “chaos” back home.
South Africa has the highest unemployment rate in the world, rampant crime and widespread corruption, which has led to large parts of Johannesburg having no water for 10 out of the past 11 days, and, nationally, power blackouts between four and 11 hours a day.
The U.S. helps South Africa gain billions of dollars a year in trade benefits through the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. Orde Kittrie, law professor at Arizona State University and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital it’s time for South Africa to be thrown out of the program.
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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin speaks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the first plenary session as part of the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit at the Sirius Park of Science and Art in Sochi, Russia, Oct. 24, 2019. (Sergei Chirikov/Pool via REUTERS)
“The ANC-led South African government has, in its relations with both Russia and Hamas, violated the requirement that AGOA beneficiaries not undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy and, with regard to Hamas, violated the requirement that AGOA beneficiaries not “provide support for acts of international terrorism,” said Kittrie, who also served as a State Department attorney and policy officiaL
“The AGOA law’s requirements really leave the Biden administration no choice but to terminate South Africa’s AGOA benefits unless such activities cease.”
South Africa continually makes controversial diplomatic moves, including allowing Russian ships to play war games just off the coast and permitting a Russian arms ship, the Lady R, to dock at a South African military base. This has attracted the attention of Sen. Tim Scott, the ranking Republican member of the Senate subcommittee on Africa and a member of the Senate subcommittee on banking.
“South Africa has harbored sanctioned Russian ships, expanded relations with Iran and issued statements against Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’ recent terror attacks,” Scott said in a recent statement.
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Also, according to the USAID dashboard, Washington gave South Africa $660 million in aid in 2023.
Herman Mashaba, president of the relatively new political party ActionSA, told Fox News Digital, “The ruling party prioritizes Cold War-era alliances above the interests of the South African people. Our close relationship with Russia has jeopardized investment into the country, which cost jobs which South Africa cannot risk losing.”
Public hearings in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel begins at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Jan. 11, 2024. (Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“At the same time, 86 people are killed in South Africa per day,” Mashaba continued. “Every 11 minutes, a woman is raped in this country. The ruling party has in 30 years been unable to address these crises and instead pays attention to everything except finding solutions to these issues.”
The State Department weighed in.
“Russia is waging a brutal war against the people of Ukraine, and we are constantly working to cut off support and funding for Putin’s war machine and to undercut Russia’s ability to carry out this conflict,” a department spokesperson said. “We have strongly urged countries not to support Russia’s war.”
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On Tehran, the State Department spokesperson noted, “Iran is an adversary and the leading state sponsor of terrorism. It seeks to sow instability in the Middle East and around the world.
“We call on all countries to condemn Hamas, as Hamas is a designated terrorist organization and deserves condemnation”.
J. Brooks Spector, a former U.S. diplomat and associate editor of The Daily Maverick, spoke of his concerns to Fox News Digital:
“South Africa has rarely supported America internationally in grave crises such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters protest on the street in Tsakane township, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, March 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
“Beyond AGOA eligibility, South Africa might find itself at risk of seeing the major American contributions of PEPFAR funds combating HIV/AIDS begin to lessen or even end, as funds are shifted to other nations.”
This would be disastrous. Even with support from the U.S., South Africa has the largest HIV epidemic in the world, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Part of the challenge for South Africa, going forward, is its desire for a foreign policy strategy that seeks to be a visible player in resolving international disputes far afield from its home continent such as Ukraine and Gaza, while largely ignoring equally urgent issues nearer to home,” Spector said.
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Firemen spray water on flames erupting from a building at South Africa’s Parliament in Cape Town Jan. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
South Africa has “a completely chaotic approach to foreign policy in recent years,” Emma Louise Powell told Fox News Digital. Powell is shadow minister for international relations for the country’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, or DA.
Powell criticized the government for getting involved in talks on the Israel-Hamas war, “given the bloodbath unfolding in South Africa’s backyard, on the African continent, in countries such as Sudan, the DRC and across West Africa. This is not to mention the political and economic crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe.
“South Africa has not even condemned Russia’s illegal invasion. This is intellectually dishonest, given the funding the ANC is receiving from Russian-linked oligarchs and companies, and we see that this position is leading to South Africa’s increasing isolation.”
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Senator Tim Scott has criticized the South African government over its dealings with US adversaries, and the country’s corruption problems. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images))
Spector added, “Such a mix of behaviors means South Africa risks becoming increasingly irrelevant internationally, both as a country with real political heft and as a valuable investment and trade partner with anyone besides China.”
Then there’s the systemic corruption. Two years ago, hundreds of senior politicians and businessmen, mostly linked to the ruling African National Congress, or ANC, were accused in the 5,000-page State Capture report for links to corruption, yet very few have been prosecuted.
“Many Washington foreign policy insiders are now for the first time seeing the ANC for what it has, sadly, become since (President Nelson) Mandela’s retirement, a party whose rampant financial corruption has impoverished South Africa’s people and led it to ally itself with America’s enemies including Russia, Iran and Hamas,” FDD’s Kittrie warned.
South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor addresses reporters after a session of the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Jan. 26. (AP)
Earlier this week, Sen. Tim Scott tweeted, “The U.S. cannot continue to simply look the other way when it comes to corruption in South Africa. As we consider AGOA reauthorization, it’s important that we take steps to ensure the program’s eligibility requirements are actually enforced.”
The State Department is so concerned about corruption in South Africa it sent Fox News Digital an additional statement that some analysts say contains a veiled threat.
“The fight against corruption is a core U.S. national security interest,” the statement said. “The United States considers the use of several foreign policy tools for countering corruption, including but not limited to financial sanctions. Beyond this, it is the policy of the United States to not comment on internal deliberations regarding the use of sanctions or to preview potential actions.”
Kittrie added, “U.S. officials are noticing that the ANC is not itself holding its corrupt officials accountable, with the ANC-led South African government reportedly making no significant progress in prosecuting South African officials who were bribed and, most recently, the ANC placing several corruption-tainted officials on its list for re-election.”
Pinkie Sebitlo cooks using a coal stove during frequent power outages caused by South African utility Eskom’s aging coal-fired plants in Soweto, South Africa, June 23, 2022. (REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)
Action SA’s Mashaba added “it is unacceptable that two years after the State Capture Report was submitted, not a single high-profile individual has successfully been prosecuted”
Last week, the South African Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, announced any South Africans with dual nationality who are fighting for Israel in Gaza will be arrested when they return.
“We are ready. When you come home, we will arrest you,” the minister said, referencing a long-standing law that South Africans may not fight in wars for other countries. Yet, when the Iraqi ambassador here claimed as many as 300 South Africans had left to take up arms for the terror group Islamic State in Syria in 2015, there were no such public threats of arrests for returning fighters.
Analysts predict Foreign Minister Pandor could face some tough questions during her visit to Washington, scheduled for this week.
The ANC government is likely to lose sole and majority power of South Africa in elections coming in May. Last week’s latest poll by the Brenthurst Foundation predicts the ANC will only get 39% of the vote. The party is likely to go into coalition, with analysts predicting this probably will be with the “revolutionary” EFF, the Economic Freedom Fighters.
A man brandishes a toy gun during a pro-Palestinian demonstration organized by the South African opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters in front of the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria Oct. 23, 2023. (Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images)
The EFF wants to grab White-owned farmland with no compensation, according to its election manifesto.
“As the EFF, we have never promised [White people] that we will not take the land. We don’t owe them anything,” EFF leader Julius Malema told cheering crowds at the manifesto’s launch.
And the China-leaning EFF warned the 600 U.S. companies operating in South Africa that if the Americans working for them don’t like the EFF’s policies, “they can leave with immediate effect.”
Fox News Digital reached out to both the South African Foreign Ministry and the ANC but did not receive a response.
President Trump is meeting Germany’s leader at the White House after sidelining his European allies in the decision to attack Iran. Oil and gas prices surged and stock markets fell, after U.S. and Israeli officials signaled that strikes on Iran would intensify.
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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described what he believes is the “best option” for Americans looking to flee Israel amid the ongoing unrest across the Middle East.
Huckabee said overnight, “We are getting a lot of requests regarding evacuating from Israel from American citizens who are currently in Israel or who have family here,” and that there are “very limited” options available.
“As of now, the best is utilizing Israel’s Ministry of Tourism shuttle bus to Taba, Egypt and getting flights from there or going on to Cairo for flights back to the U.S.,” Huckabee said on X. “Not sure when Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv will reopen. Hopefully soon, but even when it does, there will be VERY limited flights with priorities to those who already were ticketed by El Al. Doubtful that other airlines will fly in/out for a while.”
“The Ministry of Tourism is operating buses to Taba. That crossing is further away, but it’s open 24/7. There are some flights from Taba, but there are also options to get to Cairo, and it’s operating normally except to Middle Eastern countries. To get out, it’s the best option for now,” Huckabee added.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, left, and emergency personnel at the site of an Iranian missile strike on a residential building in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 1, 2026. (Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images; Ronen Zvulun/TPX Images of the Day/Reuters)
Huckabee also said he does not recommend Americans exit via Jordan at this time, as “Flights are not consistent and access across the Allenby crossing has limited hours.”
“All of our personnel from [the] embassy are sheltering in place, but I realize you may need to get people out and back home and not continue to incur hotel costs,” the ambassador wrote.
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People take shelter in Tel Aviv on Sunday, March 1, 2026, after Iran launched missile barrages following attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Saturday. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
U.S. Embassy Jerusalem said in a statement early Tuesday morning that it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It also mentioned the Israeli Ministry of Tourism’s buses to Taba.
“To be added to the passenger list for a shuttle, you must register via the Ministry’s evacuation form,” it said.
A firefighter works to put out a fire in Tel Aviv after Iran launched missiles into Israel on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (Tomer Appelbaum/Reuters)
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“The U.S. Embassy cannot make any recommendation (for or against) the Ministry of Tourism’s shuttle. If you choose to avail yourself of this option to depart, the U.S. government cannot guarantee your safety,” it added.
Hours after Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran on Saturday, Tehran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel and US military assets located in several Gulf countries.
Iran has since struck targets in Israel as well as US military assets in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
While the Iranian attacks initially focused on US military assets, Gulf states said Tehran has expanded attacks targeting civilian infrastructure including hotels, airports and energy facilities.
What sites has Iran hit in Gulf countries?
US military assets
On Saturday, Bahrain said that a missile attack targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, located in the capital, Manama.
Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said that Ali al-Salem airbase came under attack by a number of ballistic missiles, all of which were intercepted by Kuwaiti air defence systems.
In Qatar, the Defence Ministry says it “thwarted” attacks on the country in accordance with a “pre-approved security plan”, intercepting “all missiles” before they reached the country’s territory. On Saturday, Iran had targeted the Al Udeid airbase, which hosts the US forces, the government said.
Over the past four days of the conflict, attacks on Gulf countries have intensified, and governments in the region say they have intercepted large numbers of Iranian missiles and drones.
Bahrain said its air defence systems have destroyed 73 missiles and 91 drones launched by Iran since the start of the latest conflict.
The UAE Defence Ministry spokesperson said that 186 missiles were launched and 172 of them were destroyed. One missile landed on UAE territory. Additionally, 812 Iranian drones were monitored, and 755 of them were intercepted.
Qatar’s Ministry of Defence said that three cruise missiles were detected and intercepted since Saturday. Additionally, 101 ballistic missiles were detected, and 98 were intercepted. Thirty-nine drones were detected, and 24 were intercepted. On Monday, the Qatari Defence Ministry said in a statement that the air force downed two Iranian SU-24 fighter jets.
US embassies
Early on Tuesday, a “limited fire” broke out at the US embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh after it was hit by two drones. The attack caused “minor material damage” to the compound, the Saudi Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Black smoke was seen rising over Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, which houses foreign missions, after the attack, the Reuters news agency reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait released a statement on Tuesday saying that a “treacherous Iranian attack” targeted the US embassy building in Kuwait. This came a day after videos emerged that showed smoke emerging from near the embassy in Kuwait City.
The statement called the attack a “flagrant violation of all international norms and laws, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Vienna Convention of 1961 on Diplomatic Relations, which grant immunity to diplomatic buildings and their staff even in cases of armed conflict.”
On Monday, three US jets crashed in Kuwait. The US military blamed the crash on “friendly fire”, but a Kuwaiti statement did not give a reason for the incident.
The US embassy in Kuwait on Tuesday suspended operations until further notice, citing the “ongoing regional tensions”.
Energy infrastructure
Qatar’s state-run energy firm and the world’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), QatarEnergy, announced on Monday that it had halted LNG production following Iranian attacks on its operational facilities in Ras Laffan and Mesaieed in Qatar.
Iranian officials have publicly denied targeting QatarEnergy.
Saudi Arabia shut down operations at the Ras Tanura plant, its biggest domestic oil refinery operated by Saudi Aramco, after a fire broke out at the facility that officials said was caused by debris from the interception of two Iranian drones.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency quoted an unnamed Iranian military source as saying: “The attack on Aramco was an Israeli false flag operation,” adding that Israel’s goal was “to distract the minds of regional countries from its crimes in attacking civilian sites in Iran.”
“Iran has announced frankly that it will target all American and Israeli interests, installations and facilities in the region, and has attacked many of them so far, but Aramco facilities have not been among the targets of Iranian attacks so far,” the source told the agency.
Tasnim quoted the source as saying: “According to data provided to us by intelligence sources, the port of Fujairah in the UAE is also one of the next targets of the Israelis in the false flag operation, and this regime intends to attack it.”
Airports
Airports have been targeted in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE, and also in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq. Officials have blamed Iran for the strikes, though Tehran has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks on those facilities.
An Al Jazeera correspondent reported that Erbil International Airport was targeted twice on Saturday, with a drone attempting to target the airport and air defences intercepting and shooting it down.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a news conference on Tuesday that there were attempts to attack Hamad International Airport, but they all failed.
At Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport, at least one person was killed and seven wounded during what the facility’s authority called an “incident.”
The Dubai media office wrote in an X post that part of Dubai International Airport “sustained minor damage in an incident”, without specifying what the incident was or who was behind it.
The region’s airspace, one of the busiest in the world, has been closed in the wake of the conflict, stranding tens of thousands of travellers. About 20,000 passengers have been stranded in the UAE, while almost 8,000 people are also stuck in transit in Qatar as the airspace remains closed.
Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad, which together operate more than 1,000 flights daily, have suspended operations. Emirates on Monday announced limited flight resumption, but normal operations have not started.
Hotels and residencies
The Interior Ministry of Bahrain said on Saturday that several residential buildings in Manama had been hit, reporting on X that the civil defence was engaged in firefighting and rescue operations at the affected sites.
On Saturday, Iran fired 137 missiles and 209 drones across the UAE, its Ministry of Defence said, with fires and smoke reaching the Dubai landmarks of Palm Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab.
Videos circulating on social media showed smoke emerging from the entrance of a five-star luxury hotel, Fairmont The Palm, in the Palm Jumeirah area.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson al-Ansari said on Tuesday that Iranian targets are not just military, but all of the country’s territory. He did not go into detail about which parts of Qatar are specifically being targeted.
Al-Ansari said that all red lines have been crossed; from the north to the south of Qatar, Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan reported from Doha, Qatar.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had targeted a hotel complex in Bahrain because it was hosting US soldiers.
“We are not targeting our brothers or neighbours in the Persian Gulf. But we are targeting US targets, and this is clear,” Araghchi said on Tuesday.
“We started by attacking their military bases, and they evacuated their military bases and moved them to hotels and created human shields for themselves. We try to target military personnel, infrastructure and facilities helping the US and its army in launching operations against Iran.”
Why is Iran targeting civilian infrastructure in the Gulf?
One of the reasons why the Iranians are resorting to hitting civilian infrastructure in neighbouring countries is to “demonstrate their military capabilities,” Luciano Zaccara, Iran and Gulf analyst at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera.
“Iran is retaliating against all the attacks, not in one place, but in almost 10 simultaneously,” he said.
“The other thing is the political message they want to give that if Iran is attacked, the impact will be global,” Zaccara said, noting that the main message is that not only Iran, but the economy of the whole region, will be affected.
“And neither the US, the region, nor the consumers of energy are able to continue this way,” he said.
Zaccara added: “But at this point, they [Iran] don’t care that much, considering that they have been under sanctions for a long time. So it’s not affecting the Iranian economy that much. And the fact that the oil price is going up – even though they export very little – means they are still surviving.”
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