WATCH: DA trying to ‘mortgage’ our democracy to the US – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has slammed the Democratic Alliance (DA) for reaching out to the United States (US) to intervene in the upcoming national and provincial election, saying the party is “mortgaging the country’s democracy.”

South Africans will go to the polls on 29 May, in what is expected to be a hotly contested election since the dawn of democracy.

The official opposition wrote to the US government pleading for additional resources to bolster the deployment of election observers when South Africans go the polls.

Watch President Cyril Ramaphosa slamming the DA for writing to the US

DA selling SA

Ramaphosa accused the DA of trying to “sell” South Africa to the United States.

“We invite them and say do come and monitor. But now, for a non-state entity to do something like that is basically saying we are mortgaging our democracy. We deal with regional, continental and global organisations and we invite them.

“So, we think it’s quite disingenuous and it seems to be another agenda that underpins that. We will want obviously our elections to be transparent, to be well-held as they’ve been in the past,” Ramaphosa said.

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Letter to Blinken

In a letter addressed to US secretary of state Antony Blinken, the DA claims the election is facing risks from Jacob Zuma’s MK Party and the ANC’s alliances with “malign international actors”.

“It is our contention that as the ruling elite grow more desperate to retain electoral support ahead of the upcoming elections, they may be willing to put their narrow political interests ahead of our country’s broader interests and sacred constitutional values.

“Here, we are witnessing an increasing willingness by the ANC to forge alliances with malign international actors, whose regimes are characterised by tyranny, terror and oppression,” wrote Emma Powell, the DA’s spokesperson of international relations.

The DA said it will be requesting a formal meeting with the US embassy in South Africa in the coming weeks where the party will provide “specific detail in respect of our requests.”

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