‘Don’t worry about AfriForum and DA’s sphithiphithi and traffic to US,’ says minister

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says the DA and AfriForum’s visits to the United States (US) do not mean the government has been left out in the court.

Earlier this month, the DA announced its week-long working visit to Washington DC, “aimed at stabilising diplomatic relations between South Africa and the United States during this period of heightened tensions”.

DA said it visited the US in its capacity as the second-largest party in the government of national unity (GNU).

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This places it as “a steadfast” and “credible advocate” for South Africa’s national interests on the international stage.

While there, it engaged with “key decision-makers” across Congress, the State Department, and the White House.

“These discussions aimed to ensure that US leaders receive accurate and fact-based information regarding South Africa’s domestic landscape and the challenges our nation is currently navigating.”

This was after US President Donald Trump cut USAID to several countries, including South Africa.

South Africa was singled out for “doing very bad things” and “violating human rights against certain groups of people”, according to Trump.

Following the statement on “certain groups of people”, Trump offered Afrikaners a deal to resettle in the US.

AfriForum and Solidarity have been lobbying for US support in dealing with farm murders and other government policies it claims have been marginalising those it represents.

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It returned again following Trump’s executive orders, this time to urge the US government to sanction ANC leaders and leave the rest of the country alone.

These visits left an impression that the government was being left out in the cold.

‘Don’t worry about AfriForum, DA’

However, on Thursday, Ntshavheni assured South Africans that the government still had matters in order.

The government has yet to send envoys to the White House and will announce when it finally does, said Ntshavheni.

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“Remember, we’re not sending the envoys to the US alone. We’re sending envoys to all major capitals of the world. So we are meeting with the EU [European Union] so that we can engage on our way forward and how to deal with global challenges, how to deal with our own trade relations, how to grow our own economies, how to cooperate on matters of mutual interest, as we indicated in the statement,” said Ntshavheni.

Engagements

Ntshavheni said the government’s silence on envoys to the US did not mean there were no engagements between the two countries.

“We have an ambassador in Washington who is busy engaging with the US administration in one form or the other. So it’s not like we are not engaging as government. And as the president was responding to questions on Tuesday, he indicated his continuous interaction with the various players in the US,” said Ntshavheni.

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“So we continue to acknowledge the US as a strategic partner of trade, but we have other partners that we are engaging. We’ll announce in due course when we send the envoy.

“So, don’t worry about the rush or sphithiphithi of DA, AfriForum, and whatever. They are people who need to explain whether they can take a leave of absence from themselves, act with one hand, and take off the other. So don’t worry about that sphithiphithi and traffic.

“Sometimes you rush too early, and you get tripped up. So sometimes it’s better to relax. And we like our relaxing mode and our calm approach. But we continue to interact. Remember, the US sent representatives both to the Foreign Minister’s G20 meeting and also to the finance minister’s G20 meetings. So we are engaging. So don’t stress too much about the engagement.”

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