ANC government efforts to move BRICS summit are a cowardly cop out

7 June 2023

Information that points to Cabinet today taking a decision to move the upcoming BRICS Summit to a secondary country is the clearest indication yet that the ANC government is simply unwilling to uphold their legal obligations and arrest the alleged war criminal, Vladimir Putin.

The anticipated announcement is nothing but a cop-out that will give the ANC cover to continue kowtowing to their cadres in the Kremlin, putting their party interests ahead of South Africa's.

Any decision to move the BRICS Summit instead of exercising its legal obligations to conduct an arrest will have the effect of directly aiding and abetting Putin’s continued reign of terror in Ukraine.

South Africa has already forked out millions in preparations for the summit, which may now be entirely wasted. Moving the summit to a secondary nation is nothing other than a false flag, designed to send the impression that South Africa is non-aligned.

The reality is that the ANC are simply unwilling to uphold the law because their electoral fortunes in 2024 are directly tied to continued favour with Russia.

The ANC’s on-going dalliance with Moscow has already had dire consequences for South Africa. Formula 1 (F1) is now reported to have pulled the plug on hosting this prestigious event in South Africa as a result of its failure to denounce Russian aggression in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of rands worth of foreign direct investment and advertising revenue for South African firms have already been lost as a result.

This disinvestment will continue until such time as South Africa is willing to join the global community of democracies in standing firm on our constitutional values and denouncing unprovoked Russian aggression in a sovereign state.

Issued by Emma Powell, DA Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, 7 June 2023