By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has met with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress to discuss relations between Pretoria and Washington.
The visit by the US Congress delegation comes after two lawmakers tabled a Bill calling for the review of relations between the two countries over South Africa’s foreign policy.
Ramaphosa was on Thursday addressing the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San leaders in Parliament where he raised the issue of the elections and meeting with US Congress members on Wednesday.
“On May 29, South Africans will be going to the polls to vote in our 7th democratic elections for national and provincial government. As we prepare for this historic occasion, which many in our country have been calling for, the day has now come where South Africans will participate in the choice of their government.”
“As we prepare for this occasion, I urge traditional leaders to continue to urge all eligible voters to register and participate in these elections. As we have done before, we call on traditional leaders to actively promote free and fair campaigning. Politicians will come to your areas, and as they come to your areas, we urge that you should promote free and fair campaigning and to ensure that all voters can exercise their democratic right freely,” said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa has also condemned in the strongest terms the rise in the killing of traditional leaders, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Our law enforcement agencies are hard at work to ensure that those responsible are brought to book. On behalf of government, I wish to pass our deepest condolences to all families for the loss of their loved ones and to you for the loss of your colleagues.”
He has welcomed the partnership between the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the National School of Government (NSG) to provide training on, among other things, facilitating socio-economic development for traditional communities.
“We know that capacity building is essential if we are to enhance the role traditional leaders play in development,” said the President.
He further highlighted that the delegation from the US Senate and House of Representatives supported trade relations between the US and South Africa.
Ramaphosa said he was encouraged by the views of the members of the Congress. This was an indication that South Africa was on the right path.
There have been tensions in the past few months between the US and South Africa over Pretoria’s non-aligned position over the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Tensions ratcheted up when a Russian ship docked in Simon’s Town in December 2022 and the US ambassador to South Africa alleged that the ship was picking up arms for the Ukraine war.
But an inquiry led by Judge Phineas Mojapelo found that South Africa did not sell arms to Russia.
A few weeks ago, two US lawmakers tabled a Bill in Congress calling for the review of relations between South Africa and the US.
Ramaphosa told the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San leaders that he met with US Congress members on Wednesday and they had good discussions.
“I spent a considerable amount of time yesterday talking to American legislators from the Senate and from the House of Representatives who are visiting our country. They come to South Africa to come and look at progress we have made. They all said ‘we continue to be in awe at what you have achieved as South Africa over the years of your democracy’.
“But they also add ‘we continue to be in great awe of your great leader Nelson Mandela’. Then they add ‘we would like to engender, not a relationship between South Africa and the US. We want to engender a friendship. We want to trade with you, we want to invest in your country and we want to see the two countries mutually benefiting from initiatives such as Agoa and many other initiatives’. That gave me a great deal of courage that, indeed, we are on the right path,” said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa also discussed the conflict in the Middle East and said there should be a settlement between Israel and Palestine.
The conflict has been raging since October last year when Hamas launched an attack in Israel. The Israeli Defence Forces have been pounding Gaza for the last few months.
The United Nations said there must be humanitarian aid to the besieged city. Thousands of people have been killed since the war started.
The Israeli government wants Hamas to release all hostages. Ramaphosa said there must be a solution to the conflict.