SOUTH AFRICA PERSPECTIVE

South African media cover MC14 with militant engagement, South Africa being the most vocal African nation against CBAM and de facto leader of the African Group at the WTO. The Daily Maverick publishes an incendiary editorial titled "CBAM: Climate Neocolonialism," arguing that the EU imposes its environmental standards without adequate compensation to African countries whose economies are structurally dependent on exporting carbon-intensive commodities.

The Mail & Guardian highlights the African Group's position: rules encouraging local mineral transformation, concessional financing, and technology transfer. News24 notes that South Africa, whose 80 percent of electricity comes from coal, will be severely hit by CBAM on its steel and aluminum exports to the EU—sectors employing hundreds of thousands of workers.

Anti-apartheid heritage structures the coverage: sanctions under apartheid showed that punitive trade measures affect vulnerable populations first. SABC relays South African Trade Minister statements at Yaoundé, characterizing CBAM as "wealth transfer from South to North under green transition cover." The ICJ case as precedent: South Africa uses international institutions to challenge Western power policies, and the WTO is the next battleground.