The US released its 2016 report on Agoa on the 29^th of June, and it’s not been the easiest year for US/SA trade relations. Fin24 reports that The United States’ ambassador to South Africa, Michael Froman, complemented the current market conditions in Sa, saying we have a “sophisticated financial sector and prices are generally market determined.”

“The United States and South Africa are committed to economic dialogue, including through the bilateral TIFA (Trade and Investment Framework Agreements). South Africa’s free trade agreement with the European Union enables EU products to enter South Africa at lower tariff rates than US products,” Froman said.

That said, Froman didn’t hold back when highlighting issues the country faces. Some of SA’s most prevalent shortcomings include:

• Insufficient immigration control
• High levels of violence against women and children
• An uneven quality of schools
• A non-transparent tendering process
• Widespread corruption
• Poor police performance

He added that, while SA is very involved with UN and AU counter-terrorism activities, the policing of our borders leaves much to be desired.

 “South African borders are considered very porous and immigration control remained insufficient over large portions of the border,” he said.

Froman said that our “commitment to combating corruption during the reporting period has been mixed”.

“The Directorate of Priority Crimes and the Special Investigation Unit tackle white collar crime in the private sector and the government, but a recent Constitutional Court ruling held that the President and National Assembly had not upheld their constitutional duties.”

“The court criticised the president for his failure to heed the legal judgment of the Public Protector and criticised the National Assembly for its failure to exercise oversight over the executive branch.”

“The government contract tendering process is not transparent. Corruption and poor police performance are considered common and widespread. South Africa’s free press regularly reports on judicial and government allegations of public corruption,” Froman said.

He added that the state of our education system is a large contributor to the skills shortage South Africa faces.

“South Africa suffers from a shortage of skilled professionals and a surplus of low-skilled labourers. The quality of schools remains uneven and education is not free,” he said. “A highly rigid and politicised labour force resulted in extensive work stoppages that reduce output and bottleneck service delivery.”

Violence against women and children also got a mention and Froman once again attributed our poor police training to the issue of widespread domestic violence.

“The government has developed and implemented programmes to stop domestic violence, but societal attitudes, a lack of resources, and inadequate training for law enforcement officials hampers implementation,” he said.