HR 2633 - bank freezes, visa bans, and seized assets
H.R. 2633, the U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act of 2025. Introduced in the House on April 3,
H.R. 2633 is a review to see if further action is required with regard to the South African Government officials which would also include Julius Malema. Malema who I an sure you have heard instigating his supporters with the chant "kill the boer" which he insists is an anti apartheid freedom song. Even if this is true there is no place for such racism in todays world.
The H.R. 2633 US - South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act of 2025 was introduced into the House on Aril 3rd 2025 and is now waiting for a vote in Congress. With the US Government having been shut down for 40 days I would guess there is a back log super ceding this review act and possibly will only be heard and voted on next year.
The H.R. 2633's proposes sanctions on these officials like visa bans and asset freezes around the world which I think would be welcomed. Over the last decade SA Government officials have been buying up property on the Australian Gold Coast and at one time were the ones dominating the international property purchases. Must be some type of exit plan when they have been kicked out of the party due to being corrupt. They are all involved and up to no good with the motto of do not get caught.
South Africa over the last few decades has had an anti Western stance even though they were receiving hand outs and relied on these handouts not to better the country, but more so to fill their pockets. With the stopping of USAID they must have gone into full on panic mode as this was the easiest money they have ever made.
The problem is once the US starts to look into this Relations Review they will see South Africa has been openly trading with sanctioned Iran with exports of $23.32 million and imports of $19.62 million in 2024 and these numbers are up this year. Iran is considered a friend of the South African Government.
One has to understand the history back to apartheid days and this is by no means an excuse. The ANC party was banned and deemed a terrorist organization during apartheid years. The ANC activists ended up in Cuba, Russia, Libya and Lebanon with Arafat a close supporter and friend. Not surprisingly SA supports Hamas and the friendships go back decades which include Iran.
SA is a founding member of BRICS that openly wants to attack the US Dollar trade dominance. South Africa used to sit on the fence playing both sides for the sole purpose of milking financial hand outs. Those so called foreign affair hand outs have since dried up and now the SA Government has shown the side they have selected and one would have to be blind or stupid to not have known this already. They hate Europe, they hate the US and funny enough blame them for their financial woes. Apparently we have held them back by colonizing and think they would have prospered on their own.
Well in the 31 years they have been in power we saw $50 billion looted by Zuma's Government leaving the state coffers empty. A reported $45 million is lost daily in SA to tender fraud and corruption which is staggering and hardly surprising there are no funds to fix the infrastructure. The economy is in a state due to no money funneling back into businesses as tenders are supposed to help create a flow of money. Tax money is paid back into the economy and this cash injection has been missing for years. Unemployment is rising and corruption is to blame.
The real hope is that the HR 2633 is a yes vote in Congress which may be wishing for too much even though this only needs a majority. For real change to happen in South Africa outside pressure is required and why tariffs may hurt the country short term the long term looks even worse if there is no change.