ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has insisted that South Africa will not be pressured or harassed into taking sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Mbalula was speaking at a workshop last weekend in Durban on the proposed amendment bill of the South African Postbank Limited Act, which once signed into law, will enable the department of communication and digital technologies to position Post Bank as a state-owned bank.
“People say we have not taken a stand. We have been accused for our anti-war position and that we are pro-Russia. We have been non-aligned.
“We have said this to the Americans and that we are not pro-Russia. We are now being threatened in terms of trade simply because we must be coerced to take a particular stance, and that means being anti-Russia,” Mbalula said at the workshop, which was organised by KwaZulu-Natal executives.
Mbalula was speaking in defence of the South African government’s advocacy for a non-aligned approach, which has received backlash from several countries, to the protracted and deadly conflict.
Mbalula’s comments came as President Cyril Ramaphosa took part in the African Peace Mission to intervene and resolve the stalemate between Russia and Ukraine, which has left scores of people dead and displaced.
But the trip was blighted by problems after the South African delegation traveling with Ramaphosa was blocked at Warsaw Airport in Poland.
Polish authorities claimed that undeclared dangerous goods were found in the plane, which ferried journalists and Ramaphosa’s protection unit.
This raised the ire of South Africa’s third opposition party, the EFF, which accused the Polish government of practising Cold War antics in a democratic society to bully African nations on their foreign policy objectives.
The red berets brigade urged the South Africa government not to respond to this lightly and defend SA’s sovereignty and dignity by recalling the country’s ambassador to Poland.
They also recommended downgrading the Polish embassy in South Africa.
In contrast, the DA wanted the head of Ramaphosa’s bodyguards, Maj Gen Wally Rhoode, to be summoned to parliament to explain why he accused the Polish authorities of racism.
“Not only was this statement defamatory and baseless but it came across as the South African government’s official stance,” said DA spokesperson for the police, Andrew Whitfield.
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