LETTER: SA’s delusions shattered

If one needs any more evidence that the ANC is arrogant, deluded and out of touch, note international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor’s hilarious statement: “We are working on easing tensions between Ukraine and Russia.”

This following her demand to a bewildered AU to remove Israel as an observer, to which its chair, President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi of Democratic Republic of Congo, replied: “Forty-four members of our organisation recognise Israel and have established diplomatic relations with that state, of which 17 have opened embassies in Tel Aviv and 12 have opened general consulates there, not to mention that a large number of African states have opened their markets and economic space to Israeli enterprises and signed co-operation agreements in fields as varied and sensitive as: education/training, defence, security, intelligence, nuclear co-operation, agriculture, technological innovations, health, economy and finance. 

“The list is long, very long. The obligation to take account of the national choices and interests of the member states left me no choice but to grant observer status to the country with which all these states, more than four-fifths of the members of our union, maintain, in all sovereignty, such a diversity of relations. By acting in favour of the national interests and choices of 44 member states, by which logic or pretension could I consider that all these states had themselves violated our texts by establishing such strong and rich relations, which, I underscore, all go beyond simple observer status?”

Sydney Kaye, Cape Town

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.​