Citrusdal is a seemingly idyllic farming city named after the fruit it grows. Nestled in a valley on the base of the Western Cape’s Cederberg mountains, it is dwelling to rows and rows of orange and lemon timber.
The tangerines within the orchards are nonetheless as inexperienced because the leaves. Harvest will are available in July and August, then the fruit might be picked and boxed for export to the UK, Europe and the US.
However as tensions heighten between the South African authorities and Trump’s administration, this important export could by no means land on US soil.
South Africa is without doubt one of the greatest exporters within the African Progress and Alternative Act (AGOA), a commerce settlement offering Sub-Saharan international locations with preferential entry to US markets by way of tariff-free imports.
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Citrusdal, within the Cederberg area, is roughly 155 miles (250km) north of Cape City
AGOA is due for renewal on the finish of September 2025 and is extremely weak to getting the axe from Mr Trump, as he imposes tariffs on his closest neighbours Canada and Mexico.
Right here in Citrusdal, alarms are sounding as market specialists suggest South Africa withdraws from AGOA willingly to offset threat, quite than face the storm in September.
Gerrit van der Merwe, chair of the Citrus Growers’ Affiliation and managing director of ALG Estates, says he hopes an grownup within the room will make the best choice.
“We take a step back, that’s a hit. Not just on the farmers but on all the community. If we are missing out on prosperity the slack will probably get picked up either by a citrus farmer in Peru or some farmer in Spain,” says Gerrit.
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Farmer Gerrit van der Merwe worries about how Donald Trump’s tariffs might influence exports
South Africa is the world’s second-largest exporter of citrus after Spain. Although solely 9% of South African citrus goes to the US, a whole withdrawal of tariff-free entry might influence hundreds of jobs.
“AGOA is probably responsible for 35,000 jobs in the citrus industry in South Africa but also indirectly responsible for 25,000 jobs in the US for truck driving, repacking, running cold rooms and that type of thing. We have a 35 to 45% unemployment rate in South Africa. We need wins,” says Gerrit.
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South Africa’s president has signed a legislation permitting land seizures by the state, which Trump has referred to as egregious and hateful
A black labourer on the again of a tractor waves as he drives by. On the sides of the farm, staff sit within the backs of farm wagons filled with insect-infected oranges they cleared from the timber to maintain them wholesome.
They’re working land that was acquired in the course of the founding years of the Dutch occupation of the Cape from the seventeenth century and handed down 13 generations to Gerrit and his household.
The racialised legacy of land possession was entrenched by apartheid rule throughout South Africa’s mining increase and stays the fact right here. White folks make up 7% of the inhabitants however personal greater than half the land.
A brand new land expropriation act signed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa permits for the federal government to grab land within the public curiosity.
The invoice is but to be enacted however has drawn the ire of Mr Trump, who responded with an govt order calling the actions egregious and hateful in the direction of “racially disfavoured landowners” and supplied asylum to Afrikaners.
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The racialised legacy of land possession has been entrenched by Apartheid rule
It’s reported 67,000 farmers have proven curiosity in US asylum however Gerrit says that isn’t an choice for the citrus growers in his affiliation.
“I don’t think anybody is taking it seriously. You will always have a fringe in any society of 5 or 10% that will take it up and will carry that flag but most of the people I deal with love South Africa and would like to stay,” he says.
“We do feel a bit isolated about the fear-mongering because we don’t see it on a daily basis. We are not that security conscious on a daily basis.”
He provides: “I’m not exposed to the guys up north and I think that some people are in really tough situations.”
Up north, Wannie Scribante proudly exhibits us the safety set-up defending his small non-public farm.
His cameras have AI know-how that spots the motion of individuals, and he shares stills of his black labourers as they work the sides of the farm.
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Wannie Scribante who owns a small non-public farm feels threatened by squatters and the danger of land expropriation
He hasn’t had a single intrusion or theft since he arrange the cameras three years in the past however nonetheless feels threatened by squatters and the danger of land expropriation.
“I’m concerned that this has been pushed by a government that is not honest with us. Why do they write in expropriation without compensation? Then they tell me we’re not going to do that? It is silly to spend so much time on it and do a law if you’re not going to do that,” says Wannie.
Although Wannie doesn’t consider the debunked claims of a white genocide being repeated by Elon Musk, he nonetheless appreciates the quilt coming from the Oval Workplace after feeling ignored by the South African authorities.
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Wannie Scribante believes the South African authorities just isn’t listening to their issues about land expropriation
“They say why don’t you talk to us? I mean we are trying to and they don’t listen. We don’t even get appointments. Now, suddenly someone else says it and it opens up the conversation of our problems that we have.”
I ask him if white South African farmers are getting used to push an agenda.
“Most probably, yes.
“I believe President Trump has issues he isn’t glad about – the expropriation legislation, concentrating on, issues like that – however I do not suppose that’s his greatest downside. I believe his greatest downside is our authorities’s friendliness with their enemies.
“He is more worried about our ties to Hamas, Iran and China.”
