The GOOD Party said on Thursday the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) visit to the US was an act of “poor political judgment and clumsiness”, and showed that the DA was struggling to balance national interests, as a member of the Government of National Unity (GNU), with the interests of those who vote for the DA – which GOOD claims includes AfriForum members and supporters.

GOOD secretary-general Brett Herron believes the DA’s visit will do nothing to advance South Africa’s interests, “while handsomely serving the DA, AfriForum, Solidarity, and US President Donald Trump's divisive identity agenda”.

Following a recent Solidarity Movement delegation visit to the US amid tensions between Washington and Pretoria, the DA also undertook a visit to the US capital this week, in an attempt to stabilise diplomatic relations between both countries.

Relations between South Africa and Trump’s administration came to a head after the signing of the Expropriation Act, tensions which many believe were exacerbated by the Solidarity Movement and its members AfriForum and Solidarity lobbying the US.

Charges of treason have since be laid against AfriForum.

Herron said the DA’s decision to “double down” on AfriForum’s visit to the White House was not about the good of the country but about “retaining the white vote in the next election.”

“The party has sought to position its gambit as an attempt to understand Trump’s problems with South Africa, but more revealing about its intentions is what it hasn’t said about the visit. It hasn’t said that the party – and member of the South African government – had sought to counter AfriForum and Solidarity’s misinformation about the alleged victimisation of white citizens. Nor did it mention the context of post-apartheid inequality in South Africa or defend the Constitutional imperatives to reduce poverty and foster dignity for all,” Herron stated.

He said instead, the DA relied on AfriForum’s talking points, highlighting that what the party was doing “was simply grabbing the opportunity to attract publicity by claiming common ground and common purpose with the US’s anti-diversity, anti-inclusivity, anti-redress and anti-justice agenda”.

During its visit to Washington, the DA said it had engaged with the US Congress, State Department and the White House, to present “accurate and fact-based information” on issues affecting South Africa.

When approached for comment, DA spokesperson on International Relations & Cooperation Emma Louise Powell told Polity that the DA's visit had "absolutely nothing to do with AfriForum".

"We represent all South Africans," she said. "I'm not wasting my time responding to Brett's ridiculous statements. No one pays him any attention."

She said the visit proved that there was a need to strengthen bilateral trust.

Herron said the current US policy and statements by Trump made it improbable that South Africa’s – and Africa’s – current preferential trade agreement, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, would survive in anything like its current form beyond its September 2025 expiration date.

He noted that global politics was speeding along, and much could happen over the next six months.

“Advancing South African interests in this period requires State to State engagement aimed at developing understanding and trust. Lickspittle visits to the White House to compare anti-woke notes achieves the opposite,” he said.

Meanwhile, DA national spokesperson Willie Aucamp has said that the uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s (MKP’s) recent treason charges filed against AfriForum, have “no prospect of success”, and will only harden attitudes against South Africa in the US. 

He described the charges as “frivolous stunts that only inflame divisions”.

Aucamp said there was a shared national interest in building capacity against a “gathering global storm”.

He added that South Africa would be “profoundly affected by this, especially given the poor international positioning and policy choices over the last three decades of African National Congress government”.