The ANC is determined to have South Africa assert itself more on the global front should it be elected to govern the country for another five years term.
The ruling party shared details of its foreign affairs offering during a media house held at its Johannesburg headquarters on Friday.
Priority is in the party’s 2024 election manifesto termed “building a better Africa and a better world” emphasise a need to protect the country’s “none-aligned” stance on global affairs and call for greater involvement of Pretoria in peace initiatives on the continent and elsewhere in the world.
International relations minister Naledi Pandor who is also a member of the ruling party’s National Executive Committee Dr Naledi Pandor led the presentation in which she said the ANC government has been largely successful in asserting South Africa’s voice in the global community.
“You know that the issue of international solidarity is a concept that the ANC leadership played a very important role in framing in the course of the struggle against apartheid and it continues to be an extremely important concept even today”, said Pandor.
“ Our colleagues in the media would recall that I said that if the borders of Israel were to be opened to the flow of humanitarian aid it would be the powerful friends of Israel that would give effect to that so how pleased we are that America indicated that the borders should be opened, that more aid should flow that Israel has indicated borders would be opened”, said Pandor on recent developments in the Gaza strip were Israel has so far killed more than 33 000 Palestinians as it continues attacks purported to be targeted at resistance movement Hamas.
Pandor hit back at critics who have questioned Pretoria’s “none-aligned” stance which some believe is a guise for siding with tyranny regimes. South Africa has over the years resisted pressure to take a stance against Russia over its military operation in neighbouring Ukraine. Pandor said the pressure was meant to force South Africa to serve as a proxy of Western powers.
“Many people ask South Africa, why would you say you are none-aligned? You would know that the alignment that is sought is an alignment with the most powerful countries. It would be an alignment that says whatever they desire you as South Africa have to follow it. That is why we are not aligned to any powerful entity and do not as practice, because country A says this we follow blindly, because country B says this we follow blindly so this is how I would set out our believe that we cannot be attached to particular powerful countries just to be a mouthpiece when we have our own notions of how we see global affairs”, said Pandor.
The minister said the ANC wants South Africa to maintain presence in countries on the African continent where it is involved in peace initiatives such as in Mozambique, DRC and South Sudan as part of efforts to “silence the guns” on the African continent.
“Our organisation the African National Congress, fully supports our government’s efforts, at trying to silence the guns on the African continent. Our country played a key role in bringing about the Ethiopia-TPL Tigray peace agreement commonly called the Pretoria agreement which was signed on the second of November 2022 right here in our country South Africa and I was an observer in that process, and I saw the role that South Africans played in asking the two parties to actually reach consensus. “our country is also involved in conflict resolution efforts in Mozambique, in seeking to end violence and conflict in the Democratic Repulic of Congo, in helping to achieve key goals of the comprehensive peace agreement in South Sudan and other efforts in many parts of the African continent where we see tensions flaring up”, said Pandor.