President reconfirms ANC's commitment to political expediency over principle
21 August 2023
President Cyril Ramaphosa's remarks ahead of this week’s BRICS Summit have yet again highlighted the profound dissonance that characterises the ANC's foreign policy offering.
Acknowledging the critical role that values-based alignment played in helping to end Apartheid in South Africa, the President failed to offer evidence of any tangible measures implemented by his government to advance freedom, peace, and security throughout the world.
Whilst Chairperson of the African Union, Ramaphosa failed to take meaningful action towards promoting human rights and the rule of law on the African continent. The ANC-led government has consistently turned a blind eye to ongoing electoral manipulation in neighbouring Zimbabwe and has refused to condemn the recent passage of deadly anti-LGBTQI+ laws in Uganda. Little has been done to offer solutions to on-going violent conflicts in nations such as Sudan and recently, Niger.
In the aftermath of Apartheid, South Africa bears a moral obligation to speak out against injustice. Despite this, our President remains silent in the face of human rights abuses committed by fellow BRICS member states against ethnic and religious minorities, whilst the National Conventional Arms Control Committee continues to furnish rogue actors with arms and ammunition, betraying the very principles the ANC claims to hold sacred.