By Simon Nare
President Cyril Ramaphosa will not be sending a delegation to the US to explain the mischaracterisation of the country by Afrikaans group, which has strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
He told reporters during a briefing on the president’s schedule on Thursday that there was nothing to explain to Donald Trump’s administration because there were no land grabs in the country as the US president believed.
Magwenya said South Africa would rather focus on taking the damaged diplomatic relations forward, and if the US had genuine concerns, the government was available to address them.
“The president is on record to say he does not want to send a delegation to the US that will go to explain ourselves because there is nothing to explain. There is no land grabs in South Africa. We are not engaged in sinister relations with any country.
“What we need to do is to look [at] how we take the relations forward with the US. We are more interested in resetting that relationship,” Magwenya said.
He added that it would be more prudent to perhaps send a delegation if there were issues regarding trade relations.
On whether South Africa needed to revisit its foreign policy following the fallout with the US, Magwenya said the country could not change its foreign policy because of one country.
“We have a bumpy patch with one country, one country. It therefore cannot be said that because of that bumpy patch, our foreign policy needs an overhaul. I think what is important for everybody to recognise and accept, including the DA, is that foreign policy remains in the remit of the president responsibility,” he said.
Magwenya said it was concerning that there were groupings within South Africa that were undertaking trips to the US and not representing most of the country.
This followed reports that the Cape Independence Advocacy group was planning a trip to Washington to ask for help for the Western Cape to secede from South Africa.
He said Ramaphosa took a dim view of this visit because the Constitution created a unitary state and a non-racial society that recognised and protected unity and diversity.
“There is no part of our beautiful land that can be allowed to secede. As people exercise their constitutional given rights, they must not do so in a manner that undermines and subverts constitutional democracy in South Africa.
“We should all be actively engaged in building a better South Africa in the face of unpredictable geopolitical dynamics,” he said.
Magwenya confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was still visiting South Africa, but the date had been moved from 10 April to 24 April at the request of Zelenskyy and his government.
He said the invitation should not be seen as suicidal given the hostile reception he received during his recent visit to the US.
Zelenskyy’s trip to the country was continuation of talks between South Africa and Ukraine to find a peaceful solution to that country’s war with Russia.
He argued that Trump has aligned himself with South Africa’s position on the war in Ukraine in that it needed to end as soon as possible.
Magwenya also said that Trump was still talking to Zelenskyy.
“We been engaging President Zelenskyy for the past two years, if not more. And at some point, South Africa was one two countries that had the capacity to speak to both President Zelensky and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” he said.
He added that at that time, the US under former president Joe Biden, did not have a channel to speak to Putin and this changed only when Trump took over.
“We see President Zelenskyy as a continuation of our efforts to try and bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It would be disingenuous of us and of the president to suddenly of now discard or distance himself in any engagement with president Zelensky,” he said.
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