DA brands ANC attack on Msimanga’s visit to Taipei ‘hypocritical’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday hit back at accusations from the African National Congress (ANC) that Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga’s visit to Taiwan violated South African foreign policy.

In a statement from DA spokesman for international relations, MP Stevens Mokgalapa, the party said Msimanga’s visit to Taipei was aimed at “job-creating investment. His statement came as the ANC accused Msimanga of treason and called for the confiscation of all official and diplomatic passports from those who undermine the country’s “one China” policy.

Mokgalapa described the ANC’s attack on Msimang as hypocritical.

“With 9 million jobless South Africans, the DA praises the attempt by Mayor Msimanga to encourage investment in South Africa. This is what our country needs to create jobs and fight poverty,” he said.

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“This simply isn’t a priority for the ANC – they are a party of cronyism, fighting to protect corrupt interests. The people of Tshwane, like the rest of South Africa, come stone last.”

Msimanga was advised not to visit Taiwan by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, but Mokgalapa pointed out that while the country does not have official relations with Taiwan, there was a South African Liaison Office in Taiwan.

“The DA reminds the ANC that neither the ANC nor the national government it runs can dictate who DA Mayors meet with in order to obtain job-creating investment, and that such international trips are allowed.”

Earlier on Monday, ANC national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said in addition to confiscating the diplomatic passports of local transgressors, the statement called on Dirco to let the Taipei Liaison Office in Tshwane have it too, to “protest the extreme disrespect for our foreign policy implicit in Councillor Msimanga’s invitation to Taipei”.