The conference will be held in Pretoria from Tuesday to Thursday.
DA’s Kenneth Mubu, pointed out Zimbabwe among a number of countries where South Africa’s foreign policy, widely discredited as quiet diplomacy, had entrenched human rights abuse.
Mubu, the Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation said the policy was inconsistent, much to the worsening of crises in a number of countries in the continent.
“DA calls on the Minster of International Relations and Cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, to use the opportunity presented by the upcoming Heads of Mission Conference to clarify South Africa’s foreign policy objectives, and the values that underpin it. The DA believes that the Zuma administration’s track record in using its foreign policy to promote and defend human rights has been worryingly inconsistent,” he said.
“On the one hand, South Africa has signed accords promoting peace, tolerance and accountability, while, on the other, it has in the past protected authoritarian regimes- such as those in Myanmar, Libya, Swaziland and Zimbabwe- from censure or reform. While proudly highlighting the comprehensive rights offered in our Constitution, the South African government has remained silent when homosexuals in other countries are denied those same rights.”
South Africa has been previously blamed for maintaining ‘quiet diplomacy’ on approaching the Zimbabwean crisis.
Critics say the approach, as practised by former president Thabo Mbeki and current leader Jacob Zuma, had entrenched President Mugabe’s stranglehold on power.
Post published in: Africa News