Countdown to disaster for South Africa

• South Africa could be just a week away from being expelled from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) with economists warning that the impact would be disastrous for the country.
• The programme expired in September 2025, was retroactively extended to December 2026 back in February, and finally extended to the end of 2028 last month.
• Economic modelling suggests that a failure to renew AGOA or an outright expulsion of South Africa would put between 125,000 and 576,000 direct and indirect jobs at risk.