Cape Town – Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has defended the country’s non-aligned stance on the Ukraine-Russia war, saying that it is in line with traditional African approaches to conflicts.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of his 81st birthday celebrations on Sunday, Mbeki argued that South Africa’s neutral position is crucial for potential mediation efforts between the two countries, News24 reported.
“This is a traditional African position. If you look at the way we approach conflict on the continent, it does not matter which country is involved; we always say: ‘Let’s stop the guns firing and sit down,’ and we can then decide the causes of the war and so on to find the solution,” the report quoted him as saying.
South Africa has faced criticism from Western nations, particularly the US, for not condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mbeki emphasised the importance of dialogue and understanding both sides of the conflict before making judgments.
Over the weekend, President Cyril Ramaphosa participated in a peace delegation to Ukraine and Russia, where he met with Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin in an effort to mediate peace between the two countries.
Mbeki commended Ramaphosa’s African Peace Initiative, which he said aims to establish the facts and propose solutions after listening to both Ukraine and Russia.
“If you want to be a mediator, you cannot start by condemning one side or the other. You have got to say: ‘First of all, let us sit down. Silence the guns, let’s talk.’ It is during the negotiations that you can say: ‘You were wrong; you were right.’ This neutral position in that sense is correct,” he said.
In May, Mbeki said it would be wrong for South Africa to allow anyone to intimidate the country regarding its nonalignment stance, EWN reported.
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He also said at the time that he did not believe that weapons were sold by the South African government to Russia.
The claims were made by the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, and an inquiry has been initiated by Ramaphosa.
Mbeki said that South Africa has strict laws regulating arms sales and doubted that such a transaction took place.
He also noted that the Russian weapons industry was more advanced than that of South Africa, making it unlikely that Russia would seek weapons from the country.
“The law in South Africa does not allow for the export of weapons to countries that are in conflict- so, I doubt it, I don’t think it happened. If it happened, whoever is responsible must be criminally charged.
“The second thing I would say – as far as I know, the South African armaments industry does not produce the sophisticated weapons that the Russians are using. There are no weapons that the Russians would want to buy from South Africa,” Mbeki said during an interview with SABC News.
He also commented on the warrant of arrest issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
The Presidency has previously said that its intention is to resolve the issue regarding Putin’s possible visit to South Africa before the country hosts the Brics summit in August.
SA has come under pressure to take action against the Russian president.
Mbeki said: “I think Brics countries must agree either to hold the summit chaired by South Africa in one of the Brics countries outside South Africa or hold it virtually because I’m quite sure we can’t say to President Putin ‘please come to South Africa’ and arrest him. At the same time, we can’t say ‘come to South Africa’ and not arrest him because we are defying our own law. We can’t behave as a lawless government.”
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
