International relations and cooperation minister Ronald Lamola has delivered a stern rebuke to US secretary of state Marco Rubio, telling him South Africa does not seek validation from his country.
Lamola told Rubio US President Donald Trump’s administration was busy lecturing people on democracy when they were doing the exact opposite by unilaterally deciding to bar South Africa from participating in their G20 presidency.
“Secretary Rubio, the world is watching. It is growing weary of double standards. It is tired of lectures on democracy from those who seem to have forgotten that democracy, at its best, must listen as much as it speaks,” said Lamola.
“We do not seek your approval for our path. Our path is our own, chosen by our people and guided by our sovereign laws. But we do seek and we will always extend a hand of respectful partnership.”
Lamola’s was responding to Rubio’s remarks this week confirming that South Africa would be barred from participating in the G20 during the US presidency.
In an official statement, Rubio suggested Poland would take South Africa’s seat at the main table.
Our policies of redress are not a political invention. They are the fulfilment of a promise made to all South Africans as we emerged from the darkness of apartheid
— Ronald Lamola, international relations and cooperation minister
It is not immediately clear if the US will push for Poland to be officially adopted as a G20 member or if it will attend as a guest.
Though South Africa is a founding member of the G20, Trump has said it is not a country worthy of a seat at the table with global superpowers.
Rubio said unlike South Africa, Poland has made strides in growing its economy.
Lamola told Rubio South Africa believed in a world where countries can disagree but still be able find common ground “for the sake of a child’s health, a community’s stability, and our planet’s future”.
“That is the world Madiba [the late Nelson Mandela] fought for. That is the world we, in South Africa, are still building every single day. In that spirit of shared humanity and clear-eyed hope, we remain open to dialogue, committed to maintaining our overall relations,” said Lamola.
In an open letter to Rubio, Lamola takes him through how South Africa arrived at the redress laws that Trump’s administration has taken issue with.
“Our policies of redress are not a political invention. They are the fulfilment of a promise made to all South Africans as we emerged from the darkness of apartheid,” said Lamola.
“That promise is enshrined in our constitution, a document born from what many called a miracle of negotiation or, to borrow from your Supreme Court justice the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the best constitution in the world. Its preamble is a vow to ‘heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.’ The constitution of South Africa enjoins us to transform our society for the better through the rule of law.
“Thirty years into our democracy, we are not a perfect society, and it is still not uncommon to meet a beneficiary of our transformative policies who is the first of their family, or even their community, to enter a particular profession. That is the living legacy of apartheid, a systemic racial inequality that once permeated every walk of life and whose shadows we are still dispelling.”
TimesLIVE
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