Enter Senator Helmes

So, the Republicans have captured control of Congress for the first time in 40 years amid promises to reshape the American body politic. Does this mean a change in American policy towards Africa? Is the honeymoon over? Witney Schneidman looks at prospects.

South Africa has established a niche for itself as one of the top 10 American foreign policy issues.

President Mandela is perceived by Democrats and Republicans alike as a symbol of stability in a continent too frequently characterised by despair. The extraordinary bipartisan respect that Nelson Mandela commands in Washington is illustrated by the rare privilege he has had to address Congress twice in the last three years. US-South Africa relations do not revolve around personality factors alone, however. Over the last two years, a number of US government agencies – the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture and Energy, the US Information Agency, OPIC, and the Export-Import Bank have developed South Africa-specific programmes (details of which appear elsewhere in this publication). Moreover, the Clinton Administration has developed a three-year, $600 million aid programme which is two-thirds the size of the entire US aid programme in Africa. The American business community, especially African-American entrepreneurs, are examining closely the prospects of investing in the South African economy. An array of non-government organisations have also initiated programmes in South Africa, and the Peace Corp is likely to begin sending volunteers in 1995. Over the next two years, Washington will look to South Africa as its pre-eminent partner in fostering military and political stability and promoting economic development in Africa.

Perhaps the most immediate question posed by the Republican takeover is whether the Senate, led by the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), will try to cut the Clinton aid programme to South Africa. The viscerally conservative Helms is no admirer of foreign aid, and is likely to review all aid programmes including those for South Africa.

One of his priorities will be to investigate allegations that the Agency for International Development has improperly sought to exclude non-black groups in the US and in South Africa from participating in agency programmes. Helms will also be publicly critical of South Africa’s relations with Libya, Cuba, Iran and other “pariah” states. In general, however, Helms will have difficulty in altering the contents of US South Africa relations, especially the assistance package. The lion’s share of the aid programme is devoted to urban housing and infrastructure, black enterprise development, job skills training, and the strengthening of democratic and political institutions. These programmes contribute to economic growth and development and, as a result, create potential opportunities for American investors and exporters. This has obvious appeal to both Republicans and Democrats. Moreover, South Africa has influential Republican friends on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, such as Senators Lugar and Kassebaum, who would oppose actions that would harm the bilateral relationship. Indeed, over the last several years, Nelson Mandela ha<; carefully cultivated

relations with Republican and Democratic leaders, and has been noticeably bipartisan in his public comments. President Clinton will fight hard to maintain both his South Africa policy and his good relationship with President Mandela. Not only is the President less encumbered by Congress in the conduct of foreign policy than in domestic policy, but identification with President Mandela can only be to Clinton’s political benefit. Moreover, he will be assisted by Vice President Al Gore who, with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, is creating a cabinet- level committee that will deal with issues such as democratisation, curbing the flow of narcotics in the region and peacekeeping.

The bilateral relationship will also benefit from the establishment of the US South Africa Business Development Committee, under the guidance of Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and Minister of Trade and Industry Trevor Manuel, which hopes to reduce obstacles to bilateral trade and investment. Finally, a presidential visit to Africa in 1995 is still very much on the minds of senior administration officials and, clearly, South Africa would play a prominent role should President Clinton visit the region.

While the fabric of US-South Africa relations will probably strengthen over the next several years, a Jesse Helms-led Foreign Relations Committee nevertheless will try to recast the thrust of American policy toward sub-Saharan Africa. He and his like-minded Republican colleagues in the House may achieve some success in this respect notably in eroding support for broad-based aid programmes.

Over the last decade, Western governments and the multilateral donor agencies have shared a common approach to development that has been predicated on strengthening the “enabling” environment in order to make African governments self-sufficient. Thus, donor agencies have supported a wide range of activities, such as reversing environmental degradation, controlling population growth, human capacity building, and enhancing the role of women in development. These are considered to be preconditions for social stability and economic progress in Africa.

More recently, the enabling environment approach to development has broadened to address other issues such as the creation of regional peace keeping forces and international monitoring of peace agreements and elections. Senator Helms, on the other hand, represents a neo-isolationist view of the US role in the world. As a result, he is likely to reject the enabling environment paradigm of development in favour of a much more limited US role in Africa. Inevitably, this will translate into efforts by Helms and his colleagues to cut the size of the US aid programme to Africa, and to challenge other programmes, such as the US contribution to the replenishment in 1996 of the International Development Agency (IDA), the concessional lending arm of the World Bank and the IMF’s Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF). IDA and ESAF have played important roles in offering African governments support for economic reforms. Helms will also be an aggressive opponent of US funding for the United Nations, especially the creation and deployment of international peace keeping forces. This will impact on efforts to deploy troops to police the fragile peace in Angola and to prevent a new outbreak of atrocities in Rwanda. Despite Helms’ extremist rhetoric, he is only one voice – albeit influential- among 535 Congressional legislators. The real burden will be on the Clinton Administration to argue that foreign assistance continues to make sense on economic, humanitarian, security and fiscal grounds. The administration’s battles on foreign aid will be in the various committees and subcommittees in the Senate and House, where budget decisions are made. Although the Democrats will encounter a sceptical, conservative Republican majority, it nevertheless would be premature to judge the outcome. For the last 50 years, since the foreign assistance program was launched by President Truman, Republican and Democratic administrations have accepted that foreign aid, even modest amounts, is an essential tool of American foreign policy. Nevertheless, to ensure that this bipartisan support continues, it would be prudent for the American business community – especially organisations in Washington such as the Corporate Council on Africa and the US-South Africa Business Committee – to become an advocate of the enabling environment, especially if US businesses hope to maximise the commercial opportunities that are now emerging in Africa.

Witney Schneidman is Senior Vice President 01 Samuels International Associates, Washington DC

South Africa, The Journal of Trade, Industry and Investment
Publisher, David Altman
Writer, Witney Schneidman