by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE Russia-Ukraine war has plunged South Africa’s coalition government into fresh turbulence and thrown the African country’s foreign policy into a dilemma.
At the centre of the latest storm is a proposed scheme by South Africa to grant visa-free access to Ukrainian holders of diplomatic, official and service passports.
This has been in the plans since 2020, at a time it was unknown Russia and Ukraine would go to full-blown war. So it has never been a priority.
Now, it is further driving a wedge between the biggest party in the coalition government, the African National Congress (ANC), and its largest partner, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which holds the Home Affairs post, under whose jurisdiction the project falls.
By suddenly accelerating the project, the DA appears using this as a tit-for-tat response to the ANC, coming a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa angered the former by praising Russia as “a valuable ally.”
The ANC-led government, despite its insistence of neutrality, is seen by the DA as siding with Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. The DA has condemned Russia’s onslaught.
Leon Schreiber, local Minister of Home Affairs, has signed an historic agreement granting visa free access for Ukrainians into South Africa. The Presidency views this as improper as it is without Ramaphosa’s approval.
Schreiber’s announcement is seemingly retributive and well-calculated, maintaining irony from Ramaphosa’s praise of Russia last week.
“We continue to see Ukraine as a valued ally, as a valued friend, who supported us right from the beginning, from the days of our struggle against apartheid, right through to now,” the minister said.
Audaciously, Schreiber added, “I look forward to President Ramaphosa adding his signature to this agreement in the coming week, so that we can conclude this important step forward for relations between our two peace-loving nations.”
With Ramaphosa and Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, having pledged solidarity at the recent Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) Summit in Kazan, the visa-free programme to Ukrainians does not seem a priority for Ramaphosa.
The BRICS has since expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while dozens of other countries in Africa, Asia, North and South America have applied to join the Grouping.
His spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, expressed displeasure at Schreiber.
“The President is yet to sign the minute authorising the minister to sign the agreement with Ukraine,” he said.
“It is unclear how the minister can announce the signature of an international agreement without prior formal authorisation to do so,” Magwenya said.
Yet Schreiber charged that, “It is unclear why the Presidency is unclear.”
This stems from a statement by the Presidency this past weekend, whereby Ramaphosa’s office stated, “It is through the policy of non-alignment that South Africa has been able to constructively engage with both Russia and Ukraine.”
The Presidency argued that South Africa “maintained its strong historical ties” with Russia while “enjoying cordial diplomatic bilateral relations” with Ukraine.
Analyst, Ntokozo Masuku, described Schreiber’s decision to sign the visa-free access deal as “reckless.”
“Who decided that South Africa is suddenly allied with Ukraine?” he quipped.
“Whoever thought it was a good idea to give the DA control over Home Affairs needs to reconsider. We need responsible leadership, not risky foreign policy shifts that don’t reflect the will of the people.”
The ANC was forced into a coalition with the DA and other smaller parties after it lost its parliamentary majority in the May elections.
Its pact with the DA was a surprise, considering the enmity between the two parties over policy, and perceptions among citizens the DA represents the interest of the White minority in a country considered the most unequal despite the official end of apartheid 30 years ago.
ANC and DA have squabbled on a number of prevailing domestic issues, in a major test to the unity government.
– CAJ News