The signing of an executive order by US President Donald Trump to cut financial assistance to South Africa dominated the debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
President Ramaphosa delivered the SONA last week Thursday.
Trump cited disapproval of South Africa’s land policy and its genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Israel as some of the reasons for his decision.
The majority of the political parties criticised the decision taken by the Trump administration.
In his SONA speech, President Ramaphosa announced that he will be sending envoys to different countries including the US to explain the country’s foreign policy among other things.
ANC Chief Whip Mdumiseni Ntuli says the party supports such a move.
“Dr Shongwe in KwaZulu-Natal pointed to what he defines as a culture of narcissism. The African National Congress fully support your decision comrade President to have a delegation that will visit not only Washington but other capitalists of the world to seek to persuade them into correctness of the position and the perspective of the African National Congress. And perhaps to qualify this pointlet, I quote what the [former] President of the ANC Nkosi Albert Luthuli what he said, ‘That if the charters is examined, it will mean that freedom means opening of opportunities to all South Africans to live fully abundant lives in terms of the country, the communities and individuals’”.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party also says it does not support the decision taken by the US to cut aid to South Africa.
Parliamentary leader Dr John Hlophe elaborates, “While we expect President Donald Trump to end the imperialist war of NATO in Russia and to dissociate from the neo-colonial from the so-called green energy transactions imposed on developing world. We do not agree with him and his promotion of white supremacy who claim they are facing genocide in South Africa while there is no genocide and there is no threat of genocide in South Africa. Let’s make that clear. There are however legitimate cries of historical and presently oppressed and excluded black majority who demand the return of the land and the wealth.”
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says they support the stance taken by President Ramaphosa for not allowing the US to treat South Africa unfairly.
“The United States has bullied nations before and imposed senseless and arbitrary sanctions and threatened war. But we are a different generation. We are a generation of economic freedom fighters and we will not be bullied Mr President. We agree with you President that we should not be bullied. We stand on the shoulders of the giants who confronted the establishment with their very lives and we are willing to follow in their footsteps. We are not cowards and they must not try us.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and the Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen says the position taken by the US calls for the Government of National Unity (GNU) to unite.
“Potential threats on AGOA and possible even sanctions by a regime driven by the administration that will put America’s interests ahead of ours. And make no mistake about that. And so, what do we do? And if the country faces a crisis, it needs to unite and navigate the threat. And this is what we must do now. And the GNU must practice what it preaches. And that is why in a variety of portfolios we have taken a decision to function like a lazy bee on growth and jobs. That is what the President has set out in his SONA.”
But ActionSA had a different view.
The party accused government of failing to treat its major trading international partners with the respect they deserve.
ActionSA MP Athol Trollip says government is to be blamed.
“The truth is for years we have been bullied. Our BRICS partners dictate who may or may not visit our country such as the Dalai Lama. And who we can and cannot engage with such as the Taiwanese government. You have chosen friends that are neither democratic or uphold human rights. Nations that are at war with their own people through the repressive regimes. Conversely, we treat democratic nations and our major trade partners with disdain and insults. Let it be known that the racists rhetorics that so freely branding in this Parliament and in party rally stages by the likes of the ANC and EFF has great consequences for us as a nation. Your ANC sins are catching up with you. You have prostituted yourself to the highest bidders who grease your party wheels with no regard of the consequences.”
