EFF urges SA to reject AGOA extension

THE EFF has called on the South African government to reject the recent extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), warning that the programme primarily serves US geopolitical and economic interests rather than advancing African development.

- KAMOGELO MOICHELA

The US House of Representatives recently approved a three-year extension of AGOA, a trade arrangement offering preferential access to US markets for African goods.

While US officials frame the programme as a tool for economic development, the EFF insists it has historically constrained African industrialisation, promoted low-value exports, and failed to deliver meaningful economic transformation.

“AGOA has always been conditional, designed to bind African economies to US foreign policy objectives,” the party said in a statement.

“Renewing it serves Washington's strategic interests, not those of African people.”