Tebogo Msimanga |
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – thirteen hours after the invasion had begun, the ANC Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Thandi Modise, her department’s special advisor Tshepo Motumi and the Chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), among others, attended a cocktail function at the Russian ambassador’s residence in Pretoria in honour of the Russian Defence Force.
The event, hosted by the Russian ambassador to South Africa, Mr Ilya Rogachev, and the Russian Defence Attaché, Colonel Dmitriy Priimachuck, was boycotted by all NATO member countries.
Charity McCord of DA said this did not stop Minister Modise, her special advisor Motumi, and the Chief of the SANDF General Rudzani Maphwanya, in full uniform, from clinking glasses and sipping champagne as they celebrated the power of an army that had just invaded its neighbour that very morning.
“At a time when the world has chosen to stand united in its condemnation of Russia’s war declaration on a sovereign nation – when the staunchest Putin allies such as the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Czech President have turned against him, and when even China felt it had to abstain from a UN Security Council vote rather than support Russia – our own ANC government could not scramble fast enough to the wrong side of history.”
McCord said to make this situation worse, this cocktail event took place only two hours after the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) had issued a statement calling for Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine.
The DA reiterated that it is unacceptable that President Cyril Ramaphosa allows this confusion to continue, and our country’s image to be dragged through the mud.
The DA calls on Ramaphosa to immediately address the nation and the world, for that matter – stating his and his government’s position on the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin.
