As the ANC and the government fumbled SA’s stance on the Ukraine invasion, the party’s head of international relations Lindiwe Zulu yesterday said the former liberation movement did not need to command global influence to offer its mediation expertise on world conflicts.
Zulu said the ANC believed its experience in peace negotiation was valuable to countries trying to navigate conflicts.
She said the government would not remain silent while there was conflict going on in other parts of the world.
“If we move from a point of clout, we wouldn't be part of finding peace in regions of conflict.
“Secondly, South Africa has experience in how it found peace in its own country so others call on us and want to know how we achieved and we share information,” Zulu said.
She denied the ANC's international relations sub-committee held an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss a statement issued by the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) that called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.
“This was an ordinary meeting with a number of items on the agenda. The sub-committee discusses contemporary issues and the Ukraine, Russia conflict was a contemporary issue,” she said.
The meeting by the party’s sub-committee on international relations discussed the conflict between the two East European countries and also looked at the statements that have come out.
As Luthuli House tiptoed over its stance on Russia yesterday, at least 15 young South Africans had crossed the Polish border. While eight of them had been welcomed by families, others were stuck in what some called a no-man’s land, the space between Ukraine and Poland.
Meanwhile, chairperson of the portfolio committee on international relations, Supra Mahumapelo, said he told Dirco minister Naledi Pandor during a telephonic conversation that her department as well as the presidency needed to iron out the differences in the statements they made.
Mahumapelo called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to inform the nation personally that he was in fact talking to Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We're hoping President Ramaphosa, whom we haven't engaged with as the committee, is engaging his counterparts in the Ukraine and Russia. It will be important for the president, in addition to statements, to tell South Africans that he is speaking to them,” Mahumapelo said.
He also condemned the alleged racist behaviour Ukrainian law enforcement has directed at black South Africans and African students.
“I hope SA will raise the matter with Ukraine as it has no relation on taking sides but as the portfolio chair, we condemn the racism,” he said.
Zulu said there was no difference between the statements Dirco and the ANC sub-committee issued.
She said people chose to be selective in their reporting and focused only on Russia.
“We have always advocated for peace and we have a track record of calling for peace wherever conflict arises,” she said.
Some South Africans have been critical of the government issuing statements about the Eastern Europe crisis, with some saying that leaders should worry about fixing potholes instead of attempting to play mediator with warring countries.
University of Johannesburg law professor Hennie Strydom said the statements the country had made on the Russia and Ukraine crisis had no impact whatsoever.
“South Africa doesn't have clout. It doesn't have clout politically or economically to do anything to solve conflict.
“The matter rests between Russia and Ukraine to solve. Then your superpowers such as the US, Nato. South Africa is totally out of its league, regionally and globally,” he said.
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