LETTER: ANC ‘neutrality’ on Russia-Ukraine a disgrace

In an open letter to international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor, Roel H Goris, a former SA ambassador to Thailand, wrote: “At the start of his presidency, [Nelson] Mandela declared that human rights and democracy would be the cornerstone of SA’s foreign policy, and I was proud to represent that policy abroad.”                   

He referred fittingly to the department’s strategy on the Russia-Ukraine conflict of “neutrality and nonalignment” as a substantial swing from that noble cause of Mandela. Goris tells of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s urgent telecom with Vladimir Putin to hear “his perspective on the Ukrainian situation”.

In a show of “neutrality”, neither the president nor Pandor were in the least interested, despite repeated pleas from Ukraine’s ambassador, to engage in any discussion from the Ukraine perspective. This proves that “every effort was made to avoid any condemnation or criticism of Russia for its unprovoked attack on Ukraine”. 

Defence minister Thandi Modise’s visit to address a security conference in Moscow was a show of ANC solidarity and support for Russian aggression, proving again just how out of step SA is with the rest of the world. It demonstrates this by supporting the world’s worst abusers of human rights such as Cuba, Iran, China, Venezuela and Russia, speaking volumes for the morality and norms this government aspires to.

Pandor has brought nothing but shame and humiliation on a once proud and progressive foreign policy.

Allan Wolman
Tel Aviv, Israel

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