With his political capital rapidly whining, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to plead for support from South Africa.
Zelenskyy’s state visit to South Africa is expected to take place in April amid rising anti-West sentiments in the African nation.
Political parties in South Africa have consistently rejected any suggestion the country could forge better relations with Ukraine and following his rather disastrous visit to the White House where he was treated like a school boy by President Donald Trump many see him as a liability while the question of his illegitimacy keeps lingering as more and more Ukrainians demand an election.
Zelenskyy has since indicated a willingness to sign a deal surrendering his country to the US as payback for billions of dollars given to his regime over the years without having to account for it. In turn for the mineral rights, Zelenskyy wants to be included in peace talks that Trump initiated with Trump excluding the increasingly isolated Ukraine leader.
Zelensky had himself refused to negotiate and now finds himself begging for a seat on the table.
Both the Economic Freedom Fighters and the South African Communist Party have rejected Zelenskyy saying the government should not be hosting him.
The SACP said it regarded him as a proxy of the West hell bent on the destruction of Russia, Iran and ultimately China along with other countries that assert and exercise their independence.
General Secretary Solly Mapaila believes the South African government’s consideration of Zelenskyy is a result of undesirable influence by the Democratic Alliance on the ANC.
“Zelenskyy is a poster boy of war, of imperialism. They are using him to try and conquer the Russian Federation but are failing. He’s desperate because now reached a dead end and we don’t think he would have been granted a state visit if the ANC was not in coalition with the neo-liberals. It is the DA and others who want to push for ties with the likes of Zelenskyy and Europe who are not our friends but he’s weak now and him coming to South Africa will not save him,” Mapaila said.
“He represents imperialism and imperialists must not get anything. We must be like our brothers in the central Africa who cut ties with colonialists and imperialists. Chad, Burkino Faso and all of them, they asserted their independence and pushing back against Western backed terror groups, that’s what Africa must do including SADC, reject imperialists such as this Zelenskyy who have caused destruction on our continent,” said Mapaila in reference to Ukraine’s sponsoring of terror groups that have caused destruction in the Sahel region and only weakened recently by the strong governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and other neighbouring countries that have been plagued by insurgents.
EFF has consistently slammed Zelenskyy as a stooge of the west and believe hosting him is a bad idea.
“His coming to South Africa shouldn’t be an issue that concerns us that much but the government must not support what he’s doing. We don’t want that. Anything he asks for must be denied.
We said we are for peace but it must not come at Russia’s expense,” said Marshall Dlamini, the Secretary General.
“He must know that him coming here to South Africa must never make a mistake of thinking that they are going to endorse him, or support what he is trying to do, to invade, to use that kind of Ukraine as a gateway to invade Russian territory,” he said on prospects of the visit.
The ANC was a bit more diplomatic explaining that his visit was part of ongoing efforts by South Africa to facilitate peace talks between Ukraine and Russia but many observers believe the visit will not achieve much in this regard.
“Our position has always been that the dispute between Russia and Ukraine has to be resolved through dialogue Ukraine President Zelensky visit is part of an effort by President Ramaphosa on behalf of SA to enhance efforts of peaceful resolution to the conflict, said member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee subcommittee on international relations Supra Mahumapelo.
He said the visit should be seen as an opportunity for the government of South Africa to demonstrate its mediation abilities.
“Therefore the visit should be welcome as an opportunity to play our role as a sovereign state involved in bilateral and multilateral efforts to pursue our global agenda,” said Mahumapelo, who also heads Parliament Committee on International Relations and Cooperations.
Observers believe South Africa is making a mistake by hosting Zelenskyy particularly when all indications are that he will soon be out of power as he finds himself increasingly unable to justify his stay in office and why he insisted on war.
Chances of Ukraine ever joining NATO, the major reason for the war are now at an all-time low as is his ratings among Ukrainians.
“Daily, tens of thousands of Ukrainian fighters are decimated in the frontline. But Western media outlets driven by Russophobia continue to shore up Zelenskyy to fight until the last soldier, trusting in Western support for as long as it takes, as Biden would say. But then, Biden is history,” said International Relations expert Abbey Makoe on why hosting Zelenskyy is not a good move by South Africa.
Makoe who likened Zelenskyy to a “dead man walking, said hosting him will project South Africa as an unreliable ally among its BRICS partners, a view shared by both the EFF and the SACP along with other interest groups who detest imperialism and views Zelenskyy as a proxy thereof.
Risk analyst and former diplomat Doctor Kingsley Makhubelasaid that the decision to invite President Zelenskyy comes from European lobbying.
“I suspect that there has been a lot of lobbying by Western governments. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the heads of state lobbied South Africa to invite Zelenskyy. To try and demystify this thing of Zelenskyy’s isolation and spit on the Americans to say that the developing countries are on our side,” said Dr. Makhubela.
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