By Stevens Mokgalapa MP – DA Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

The ANC’s desperate attempt to control exactly who South Africans meet abroad, and where, demonstrates more clearly than ever before just how pathetic their foreign policy has become.

The ANC has created more fuss about visits by DA public representatives over the last two months than it has about any other major foreign policy issue facing the continent or the world over this time.

Behind the ANC’s obsession with the DA, is not only their decline in support at home, but the rapid deterioration of their international standing abroad.

The ANC knows this, and they are running scared.

The truth is that they should be: they have shamefully damaged Madiba’s legacy in the international arena. Their foreign policy record speaks for itself:

• The ANC cannot muster up the courage to talk about the equally important rights and freedom of Tibetans;
• Instead of standing up to the President-for-life, Robert Mugabe, ANC Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, rather recently noted that he ‘envies’ Zanu-pf;
• The entire South African cabinet acted in contempt of court to allow Omar Al Bashir, a dictator responsible for Genocide, to escape South Africa;
• Our government prevented the Dalai Lama, an international icon symbolising peace, from visiting our country;
• South Africa has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, showing complete disregard for the principle of justice;
• At the UN, we have voted against LGBT rights, and internet freedom;
• There is silence and inaction on the continued violence and human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi;
• The ANC remains silent about the effective stealing of an election by Gambian President, Jammeh;
• Our government has chosen to cosy up to China and Russia at all costs, adopting an increasingly hostile approach to the ‘West’ – despite the need for investment that creates jobs;
• Our government has failed to prioritise and restructure the number of embassies that we have abroad – currently costing the fiscus R3.2 billion – and thereby failing to maximise trade and investment opportunities.

The DA will not be distracted by the ANC’s desperate hypocrisy, nor will we be confined by their disastrous, failed foreign policy.

While the ANC descends further into irrelevance, the DA will continue to stand up for human rights, investment that creates jobs in South Africa, and peace.