Mbalula decries 'cold war' with United States as ANC reaffirms foreign policy sovereignty

The African National Congress (ANC) says it will assert its sovereignty and foreign policy position at a mass gathering in downtown Johannesburg on Human Rights Day, which takes place on the 21st of March.

Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says South Africa maintains its support for multilateralism and won’t be policed or bullied by United States President Donald Trump.

At a post-ANC Lekgotla briefing on Thursday, Mbalula described South Africa’s relations with the United States as a “cold war.” He insisted that South Africa is being targeted by Trump, who has persistently and falsely maintained that there’s a genocide taking place in South Africa.

With some parties in the Government of National Unity calling for foreign policy alignment within the coalition, the ANC’s Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says the party’s National Executive has reaffirmed that Africa remains the primary pillar in its international engagements. With this in mind, it will mobilise its allies to a mass gathering on Human Rights Day against unilateralism and in commemoration of the country’s Constitution, which turns 30 years old in May.

"There is what is called, for lack of a better word, a ‘cold war’ between us and the United States of America. Our country is under attack; the rest of the world is facing this notion of isolation and unilateralism."

Mbalula says the US's recent invasion of Venezuela and Trump’s desire to control Greenland show that no country is being spared interference.

"The undermining of multilateral forums, and creating peace boards led by Donald Trump’s administration in the United States, imposing itself on countries as a world policeman wanting to dictate what must happen to countries."

The ANC envisions thousands marching from Beyers Naudé Park to Constitution Hill in Braamfontein to commemorate Human Rights Day this year.