Zuma rolls out red carpet for dictators, red tape for peacemakers

President Zuma and the Department of International Relations (DIRCO) are rolling out the red carpet today for Equatorial Guinea's dictator, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago, just after refusing to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Laureate. The contrast could not be more illuminating.

The South African government is sending a clear signal that it would rather develop friendships with known human rights abusers than known human rights protectors.

Why does the Zuma administration go out of its way to promote relationships with the most corrupt, bloodthirsty and undemocratic leaders it can find? Our government fawns over dictators like Muammar Gaddafi, Robert Mugabe and King Mswati III, while treating iconic peacemakers like the Dalai Lama with contempt.

Now it is President Obiang's turn for the royal treatment. This man took control of Equatorial Guinea 32 years ago through a bloody coup and has held it in an iron grip through violence, intimidation and torture. Freedom House ranks Equatorial Guinea amongst the worst countries in the world for human rights conditions, alongside Burma and North Korea.

The DA calls on President Zuma to explain himself: why has he rolled out the red carpet for Obiang, but only red tape for the Dalai Lama? Where is the ubuntu in our foreign policy?

Statement issued by Kenneth Mubu MP, DA Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, October 21 2011

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