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Post by Admin on May 26, 2023 16:49:11 GMT
The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South Africa’s third-largest political party, has said he would “supply weapons to Russia” because Moscow is “in a war with imperialism”.
In an interview with the BBC in Johannesburg, Julius Malema insisted that “South Africa is an ally of Russia” and that the ANC government’s position of non-alignment only applied to the war in Ukraine.
“I will go beyond the friendship with Russia. In the war, I will align with Russia and I will even supply the weapons,” Mr Malema told HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur.
The EFF also wants South Africa to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes but Mr Malema has pledged to prevent any attempt to arrest the Russian president if he attends next month’s Brics summit in Cape Town.
Mr Malema made the comments following a diplomatic row in which the US ambassador to South Africa alleged that weapons and ammunition were loaded onto a Russian vessel docked in the country last December.
The South African government has denied approving any arms shipments to Russia.
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Post by Admin on May 26, 2023 19:52:24 GMT
(28 Apr 1999) English/Nat
South African President Nelson Mandela has arrived in Moscow on a three-day official state visit aimed at boosting economic ties, particularly in mining and nuclear power.
During his stay Mandela will met top Russian officials including President Boris Yeltsin. South African President Nelson Mandela arrived at the Vnukovo airport just outside Moscow on Wednesday.
Mandela, in Moscow until Friday, was accompanied by Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo and South African business leaders - among them representatives of the De Beers diamond cartel.
De Beers has been in talks with its Russian partners for several months to develop untouched diamond deposits near the Arctic Ocean port of Arkhangelsk.
Mandela was expected to sign a friendship agreement with President Boris Yeltsin and documents on trade and cooperation in minerals, nuclear energy and cultural affairs.
The Moscow Academy of Sciences will also give Mandela an honorary doctorate.
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Post by Admin on May 27, 2023 17:52:20 GMT
South Africa could become a "failed state”, a senior official of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said.
The admission by ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula comes as South Africa experiences power cuts, known as load-shedding, of up to 10 hours a day.
The country is also battling high levels of corruption, all of which has damaged confidence in the ANC government.
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Post by Admin on Jun 2, 2023 7:58:51 GMT
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in South Africa ahead of a summit of major economies - the so-called BRICS group - in August.
South Africa is coming under increasing pressure to decide whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will be allowed to attend the meeting.
It comes after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin over war crimes in Ukraine.
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Post by Admin on Jun 17, 2023 17:40:30 GMT
South Africa is aware that it’s on the verge of being punished by the United States for its non-aligned stance in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Govan Whittles, a senior South African journalist, has told RT. Whittles said Pretoria has taken seriously a warning by Stanlib Asset Management that the country could lose up to $32.4 billion in export revenue due to its non-aligned position on the Ukraine conflict, “mostly because it follows a similar warning by the South African Reserve Bank” regarding secondary impacts. Meanwhile, former Nigerian presidential candidate Adamu Garba II told RT that South Africa is being threatened with sanctions because the West feels threatened by Pretoria’s neutral position and its membership of the BRICS group. “Western corporations are more interested in benefiting from the weaknesses of Africa,” he said, adding that corporations from the West take advantage of and exploit resource-rich countries on the continent. READ MORE: West may target South Africa’s trade over Russia ties – economist Legal expert and independent analyst Wilcar Dias said the BRICS group “is one big problem for the US” and its allies because of its potential to become a major economic bloc and world power.
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