APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) South Africa’s ruling African National (ANC) secretary general Fikile Mbalula and US ambassador Reuben Brigety, have met in Johannesburg to discuss “the importance of the relationship between the people of South Africa and the people of the United States of America.”
The ANC said in a statement that Mbalula had held a closed-door meeting with Brigety at the ANC’s headquarters on Wednesday after the diplomat raised concerns about the ANC’s anti-US stance.
“This follows widespread media coverage of what the ambassador term “anti-American sentiments expressed by the governing party” and allegations that the South African government was at the forefront of arming Russia,” the party said in a statement.
The meeting came on the back of the controversy of a Russian ship which docked at Simon’s Town naval base near Cape Town and returned home uploaded with weapons last December as alleged by the US envoy last week.
The ambassador also criticised the South African government for allegedly failing to act on US intelligence warnings that the country might have supplied weapons to Russia.
Pretoria denied the allegations and said it would set up an inquiry headed by a retired judge to investigate the matter.
The ANC said it was disappointed — and “taken aback” by Brigety’s utterances during a media briefing last Thursday.
Brigetty has previously criticised the ANC for adopting a resolution at its elective conference last year that he considered to be anti-US.
The resolution, which was adopted in December 2022, said the US was using the ongoing war in Ukraine to further its strategic geopolitical and economic interests.
“This can no longer be described simply as a Russia-Ukraine war – it is primarily a conflict between the US and US-led NATO and Russia in pursuit of the objectives of the so-called Wolfowitz doctrine,” the resolution read in part.
It added: “According to this doctrine, the US should not allow any country in the world, in the post-Cold War period, to challenge US interests, especially its hegemony.”
The ANC noted that while Wednesday’s meeting was cordial, Mbalula had “firmly reiterated the centrality of the ANC’s approach to international relations.”
NM/jn/APA