Parliament must summon Minister Nkoana-Mashabane over failure to act on Uganda anti-gay law

The DA will today write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of International Relations and Cooperation, Hargreaves Magama, to request that urgent inquiry is initiated into why South Africa has yet to condemn Uganda for signing into law the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill this week.

The statement released by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) yesterday merely took "note of recent developments regarding the situation of LGBTI persons worldwide." This is a non-statement and is unacceptable in the face of very severe human rights violations. 

The DA will not let this blatant disregard for the human rights principle go unanswered. That is why yesterday we proposed a motion without notice condemning this law and asked Parliament to call on the Minister to take action. 

Only the ANC rejected it. They did not propose any amendments, nor did they come with an alternative. It was simply rejected in its "entirety". 

It is even more concerning that yesterday I was heckled by ANC MPs when reading out a member statement condemning this measure in the National Assembly. This demonstrated their complete lack of understanding of the problem, or even worse, support for such measures.

As a country with a proud history of fighting injustice, and with a liberal constitution which enshrines rights on sexual orientation, we should be the first to condemn this shocking legislation. Our silence is tacit approval of it and it will only serve to erode our moral standing in the international arena.

We cannot let the principle of a human rights based foreign policy, as established by President Nelson Mandela, be undermined without a fight.

We are a society embedded in an international community and therefore must manage our relationships to the benefit of South Africans and in pursuit of a just world order. Our election manifesto clearly stipulates that the DA will remain dedicated to this vision and a foreign policy informed by a commitment to human rights.

We hope that Parliament will do the right thing and flex its muscles by demanding an explanation from the executive.

We will not stop pushing for this until it does.

Statement issued by Sandy Kalyan MP, Deputy Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, February 26 2014

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