LETTER: Abstention in UN vote on Russia confirms that Cyril Ramaphosa is gutless

Before 1994, white South Africans were the pariahs of the world and many were ashamed of their government’s disgraceful,  tyrannical  behaviour. Now I once again find myself ashamed by this pusillanimous  government and president.

To have abstained in the UN General Assembly vote condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is something SA will never live down.  This merely confirms what many of us believe — that Cyril Ramaphosa is simply gutless. He won’t deal with the crooks involved in the blatant violation of our country, which brings us back to the question of what he was doing for nine years as Jacob Zuma’s vice-president and as chair of the “war council” at Eskom during the Gupta debacle?

Of course the Russians must be condemned and the strongest action possible must be taken against them — Vladimir Putin is a psychopath, and they must pay. Is it not an idea that the $400bn-plus now frozen in Western banks be confiscated and given to the Ukrainians to help rebuild their country when this nightmare is over?

Unfortunately, there is a somewhat discomforting aspect to all this that must be borne in mind. Russia invading Ukraine is ostensibly to effect “regime change” — what they call the de-Nazification of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government — and there are also claims of responding to calls for help from Russians living  in eastern Ukraine. Of course this is no justification for the current horror taking place.

But cast your mind back to George Bush and his puppy-dog, Tony Blair, who invaded Iraq on the pretext of Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, and when that proved to be nonsense, changed their tune to being there to effect “regime change”. And there were no  American or British citizens in Iraq calling for help.

Roy Fury, Hyde Park

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