Lamola champions government diplomacy, yet critics question SA’s commitment to African democracy

15 Oct 2024

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola has defended the government’s global diplomatic strategy, saying that President Cyril Ramaphosa has not focused on conflicts on other continents at the expense of peacekeeping and good governance efforts in Africa.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola has boasted several times recently that the formation of the Government of National Unity is an example of democracy for Africa and the world to follow.

Read more: Lamola says no double stands on SA’s Israel-Russia positions

Yet some critics say Pretoria itself has done very little to advance democracy on this continent – even as it fixates on a crisis much further afield, in Palestine.

Daily Maverick put this to Lamola in an interview last week to mark 100 days in office of the Government of National Unity.

He insisted that the government was deeply engaged in efforts to resolve African crises – but also acknowledged that Pretoria sometimes dealt with such African issues through regional organisations rather than directly.

Eswatini removed from agenda

On Eswatini, for instance, Daily Maverick asked him how the Southern African Development Community (SADC) could have removed the troubled kingdom from its agenda recently when Eswatini had not yet held the national political dialogue which in November 2021 King Mswati III had, in a meeting with President Ramaphosa, undertaken to do.

Ramaphosa met him then in the President’s capacity as chairperson of SADC’s organ on politics, defence and security — the body which addresses crises threatening regional stability.

Eswatini was then put on the security organ’s agenda. But even though no such national political dialogue has happened, at SADC’s summit in August this year, regional leaders “noted the positive progress regarding the political and security situation in the Kingdom of Eswatini as presented by the Government of the Kingdom, and endorsed the request for the Kingdom of Eswatini to be removed from the agenda of the Organ Troika and applauded His Majesty King Mswati III, the Government and the people of Eswatini for this milestone”.

Questioned about this, Lamola insisted that “we remain committed to the dialogue for democracy in Eswatini, and we have played our role through the SADC for all the parties to find each other and to continue with that dialogue.”

He also insisted that the dialogue “must still continue and that the parties must continue to engage and there must be a process there in Eswatini. And it being removed from the security issue does not mean that it can no longer be engaged at that level.”

“But why was it removed then at all?” Daily Maverick asked. Lamola replied that since SA was no longer on the troika of the SADC security organ it was “not very privy” to its engagements.

DRC peace move

He said that SA had shown its commitment to African peace by deploying soldiers to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of a SADC intervention force to try to stabilise the area. “And we believe in the political solution that is coming through the Rwanda process led by President Lourenco” he added, referring to the continuing peace talks between DRC and Rwanda led by Angolan President João Lourenco. The DRC government has accused Rwanda of providing military support to the M23 rebels causing mayhem in eastern DRC.

Angola, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique

Lamola also noted that President Ramaphosa over the past seven months had visited Uganda, Angola and Rwanda. “And if you check, we have never visited Palestine. The President has never been – he has been to all these African countries in this period with a clear aim of finding a solution, including in Mozambique.”

No breakthrough in Equatorial Guinea

He also disclosed there had been no breakthrough in his recent meeting with his Equatorial Guinean counterpart Simeon Oyono Esono Angue on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York. At the time Lamola said he had mentioned to Angue “the importance of both governments considering the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and a Formal Opinion calling for the release of two South African nationals as both countries are signatories to various international human rights instruments and conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

He was referring to Equatorial Guinea’s detention since February 2023 of two South Africans, Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham on what most observers believe are trumped-up drug charges.

Daily Maverick asked Lamola what the result of his appeal to Angue was and he replied that “they are open to further dialogue on the matter” but that Angue had also stated that the two men had been found guilty by an independent court, and therefore they were unable to release them.

“We did raise this as an issue of national interest for our country and as an issue of serious concern. And we think that they should definitely consider releasing them.

“We elevated this as a matter of national interest, and we were very clear.

“And we said we will be open to continuous engagement and dialogue on the matter with the hope that it will lead to a solution of them being released.

“We will continue to knock on the door. We will never get tired.

“But we don’t want to raise the hopes of the families by saying that they have agreed or there is a positive outcome from the government.

“At this stage, it is not yet positive, but we will not get tired to raise the issue of them being released.”

Zimbabwe and Commonwealth

On Zimbabwe, Lamola said he did not know if the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa next week would consider an application by Zimbabwe to rejoin the organisation which it left to pre-empt likely expulsion more than 20 years ago.

But Lamola said his deputy Thandi Moraka might know more about this, as she and Deputy President Paul Mashatile would attend the Commonwealth summit while he and President Ramaphosa would attend the summit of the BRICS forum taking place at the same time in Kazan, Russia.

Reform of the UN

Lamola has said a few times that if the UN Security Council was democratised, particularly by adding more permanent seats for Africa and other unrepresented regions, that would help to address many conflicts in the world.

Daily Maverick asked him how he thought a larger Security Council would overcome the current impasse in the body which is already paralysed by disagreements among its members over crises such as Ukraine. Wouldn’t more members just bring more disagreements?

“Yes, but at least those, if the parties mostly affected are at the table, it will ease the engagements and the way forward.

“Because the report of the Secretary-General does point to the fact that 60% of the conflicts that the Security Council deals with are in the African continent.

“So it does make sense that Africa should definitely have some representation.

“And if there is that kind of democratisation, it will help with the legitimacy of the Security Council.” DM

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