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Former president Thabo Mbeki used an event marking the 250th anniversary of US independence to reflect on the longstanding ties between South Africa and the US, describing the relationship as one built on shared democratic ideals and mutually beneficial co-operation.Relations between Pretoria and Washington remain strained over trade, diplomacy and US President Donald Trump’s criticism of Africa’s biggest economy.Speaking at a reception hosted by the US embassy in Pretoria on Wednesday evening, Mbeki said the anniversary should serve as an opportunity to reaffirm the friendship between the two countries and advance “mutually beneficial co-operation” based on their shared commitment to democracy and human progress.“[I am] confident that both peoples will use this happy occasion to recall that for some generations, they have together sought to build relations of friendship and mutually beneficial co-operation.” Mbeki said South Africa’s liberation movement had drawn inspiration from the principles contained in the US Declaration of Independence and credited US activists, legislators and successive administrations with supporting the struggle against apartheid. He said the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, passed after Congress overrode former president Ronald Reagan’s veto, made the US “one of the architects of our country’s liberation from apartheid and racial domination”.His remarks came as ties between Pretoria and Washington have deteriorated since Trump’s return to office in 2024. President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously said the US president was uninformed about South Africa after Trump publicly confronted him during an Oval Office meeting in May 2025 with unsubstantiated allegations of violence against white farmers. Since then, Washington has excluded South Africa from this year’s G20 summit in Florida, imposed a 30% tariff on South African imports and left uncertainty over the country’s long-term participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) after extending the trade programme only until the end of 2026.Representing the South African government, acting social development minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said Ramaphosa’s meeting with Trump in Washington last year continued to provide a foundation for co-operation in trade, investment, technology, security, education and cultural exchange. “The recent engagement between President Ramaphosa and President Trump in May 2025 demonstrated the importance both countries attached to maintaining open channels of communication and working constructively to strengthen bilateral relations,” she said. “The outcomes of these engagements continue to provide a platform for expanding co-operation in trade and investment, technology, innovation, security co-operation, education and cultural exchanges.”US ambassador to South Africa Brent Bozell III also reflected on the values underpinning the relationship, telling guests that the US’ democratic experiment had endured despite periods of conflict and division. “America’s story has never been easy,” he said, adding that many of the country’s setbacks had been “made possible by freedom itself” and that successive generations had continued striving toward the ideals set out in the Declaration of Independence.Business Day
