Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) is greeted by South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor (R) as part of his official visits to Pretoria, South Africa, on January 23, 2023.
Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The ANC’s continued support for Russia is an indictment of the party’s commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, writes the News24 editorial team.
South Africans would have rightly experienced a sense of shame when they watched International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor sing for dinner alongside her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Pretoria on Monday.
The outcast of the world has found a safe and welcoming haven in South Africa, while other countries that believe in democracy, human rights and sovereignty would have arrested Lavrov when he stepped foot on our shores.
Not South Africa, not the ANC-led government that claims to uphold human rights and the rule of law.
On the same day, Defense Minister Thandi Modise defended the government’s decision to stage a maritime exercise with China and Russia in February, exactly one year after Russia unilaterally invaded Ukraine in a war that has claimed more than 200,000 lives so far.
no hype
We cannot imagine a more cynical event than playing war games with an aggressor like Russia on the anniversary of that country’s invasion of an independent state.
In an amateurish attempt to justify the maritime exercise, Modise’s office claims there was “no hype” about other military activities with countries like the UK, Ghana and Nigeria in the past.
Well, Minister Modise, none of these countries unilaterally invaded an independent state when we received them in South Africa. If you don’t understand why hosting an aggressor sanctioned for doing business with most democracies justifies “hype,” you really aren’t fit for his job.
For his part, Pandor sat quietly listening to Lavrov spread lies about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s alleged refusal to negotiate a peace deal with Russia. Why should Ukraine negotiate for peace in the first place when Russia attacked them?
Removed from Mandela example
Second, Zelensky has been open to negotiations but with strict preconditions, such as the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the return of occupied lands to the independent state. Who can blame him?
It was former President Nelson Mandela who refused to negotiate with the criminal National Party towards the end of apartheid when the Nats could not commit to an immediate end to state-sponsored violence against activists. Mandela realized that peace could not be negotiated down the barrel of a gun.
Unfortunately, the ANC of 2023 is so far removed from Mandela’s example and ideals that Pandor and Modise are increasingly looking like PW Botha and Magnus Malan rather than the fighting heroes of yesteryear.
