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19-06-2024
MOSCOW: Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin congratulated South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa on his re-election as president on Monday, reflecting continued good relations with Pretoria despite uncertainty over Moscow’s more than two-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
“Hope was expressed for continued joint work on further strengthening of the partnership between Russia and South Africa in all its aspects,” a statement said on the Kremlin website, referring to Putin’s telephone call to Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa was re-elected by parliament on Friday. But the failure of his African National Congress party to win a majority in last month’s election, for the first time in 30 years, prompted the formation of a government made up so far of five parties.
Russia and Ukraine have jostled for support from African nations since the 2022 invasion, with each country’s foreign minister embarking on several of regional tours.
South Africa’s longstanding links with Moscow as with a number of African states – date back to Soviet times, when Moscow was a prominent backer of liberation movements and the fight to end apartheid, spearheaded by the ANC.
South Africa initially denounced Russia’s February 2022 invasion, but has since adopted a more nuanced position, including abstaining in several votes in the U.N. General Assembly condemning Russian actions.
South Africa attended the Swiss-hosted “peace summit” on Ukraine over the weekend but it declined to sign the final communique, along with India, Indonesia, Mexico and Saudi Arabia, even though some contentious issues were omitted in the hope of drawing wider support.
South Africa found itself in a dilemma as host of a 2023 meeting of the BRICS grouping of countries and it considered inviting Putin to attend despite a warrant from the International Criminal Court of Justice to arrest the Russian leader on allegations of deportation of Ukrainian children.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected for a second term, having won a majority of votes in the National Assembly, the chief justice said on Friday.
Ramaphosa got 283 votes versus 44 for Julius Malema, the leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party.
Earlier in the day the Democratic Alliance party said it would vote for Ramaphosa as part of an agreement with the African National Congress to form a unity government.
The African National Congress (ANC) and its largest rival, the white-led, pro-business Democratic Alliance, agreed on Friday to work together in South Africa’s new government of national unity, a step change after 30 years of ANC rule.
Once unthinkable, the accord allowed President Cyril Ramaphosa to win a second term in office. He was re-elected by lawmakers with 283 votes.
The deal between two sharply antagonistic parties is the most momentous political shift in South Africa since Nelson Mandela led the ANC to victory in the 1994 election that marked the end of apartheid.
“It will once again be a privilege and pleasure to serve this great nation … (as) president,” the 71-year-old leader said in a speech to parliament, describing the coming government as an era of hope and inclusivity.
“That a number of parties that had opposed each other… have decided to work together to deliver this result has given a new birth, a new era to our country,” he said.
The ANC lost its majority for the first time in an election on May 29 and spent two weeks in talks with other parties that went down to the wire on Friday morning as the new parliament was convening in Cape Town. (Int’l News Desk)
