DA and Solidarity Movement defend US visits: 'Not about kissing Trump's ring'

THE DA and the Solidarity Movement’s recent trips to the United States may have been triggered by the same set of events but they were not intended to kiss US President Donald Trump’s ring.

The Solidarity Movement, which includes AfriForum, returned triumphantly from the US this week and the movement indicated that it has been engaging with the American government for 21 years.

Jaco Kleynhans, the Solidarity Movement’s head of international liaison, said they did not see the engagement as an event but rather an ongoing process.

“We have built strong relationships over the years that now give us access to the White House, Congress, and various government departments. Trump's statements and focus on South Africa are partly due to our many years of engagement but also due to the SA government's total neglect of relations with the US,” he said.

Kleynhans added that the Solidarity Movement made important suggestions during its visit and believes that this will bear fruit over the next few months.

He said the visit to the US was not to kiss anyone's ring, which is a traditional gesture of respect, reverence, and submission to the Roman Catholic Pope, but precisely to present the case of its members.

DA shadow international relations and cooperation minister Emma Powell said that as for kissing Trump’s ring, she has no intention of advancing the alignment of South Africa's foreign policy to that of the US.

”Our relationship is mutually beneficial, and South Africa is a strong strategic partner to the US from a trade and security perspective. We mourn the loss of Pepfar (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) funding and consider the immediacy of the cuts as deeply inhumane,” Powell explained.

She added that the DA would also like to seek pathways to de-escalate the current heightened tensions and safeguard the significant trade relationship between South Africa and the US.

”Our interest lies in ensuring that South Africa's foreign policy is consistently non-aligned, and that we act to advance our national interest on the global stage,” Powell stated.

She said the DA delegation went to Washington DC to correct misinformation and disinformation and ensure leaders had credible information in regards to the domestic landscape.

”For example, there are no current state-sponsored land dispossessions; we have launched court action in respect of the Expropriation Act to protect private property rights and we have full faith in our judiciary, and that farm murders are part of a broader crime problem in South Africa that impacts all South Africans, not just the white minority as claimed by the Trump administration,” she said.

Kleynhans said the Solidarity Movement does not forge ties with political parties in the US, and it does not matter whether Republicans or Democrats are in power; it will make its case to whoever is in the White House.

”We are very grateful for the excellent access we have to President Trump and his government, but we also asked during our visit to the Trump White House to take a different kind of approach towards South Africa,” he added.

According to Kleynhans, it would not be a good idea to punish South Africa by taking away humanitarian aid and ending trade agreements, but rather, the right action is to punish the government and leaders who are corrupt and have ties to international terrorist groups.

”The South African government's allegations about the motives of our tour are dishonest, precisely because their own long-standing failures in diplomatic relations with the US have now been exposed, while their careless destruction of South Africa's image as a non-aligned country is now also clear. Trump is reacting on that and not on anything we said to him,” he added.

Asked if the police had been in contact with them after indications that they could face treason charges, Kleynhans said there has been no contact with the Solidarity Movement, and they believe there is also no reason for an investigation.

”Our legal team is, however, ready to fight any case. Nothing the Solidarity Movement has done amounts to treason and the cases that have been filed with the police were done by extremists in political parties such as the EFF and MK who do it for cheap political gain and who have no understanding of modern diplomacy and international lobbying, while they also clearly do not understand the South African Constitution,” he said.

Powell laughed off suggestions by political parties in the progressive caucus that the DA and the other organisations that visited the US should face charges of treason.

”I am not aware of anyone having called the police,” she said, adding that the DA went there to have fact-based conversations, not to negotiate on the government’s behalf.

Political analyst Dr Dale McKinley said it was clear that the Solidarity Movement’s visit was to try to get Trump and his administration to intervene on their behalf.

”They succeeded clearly in doing that from what they told him, obviously, irrespective of what anybody thinks of that. But in terms of whether they achieved their aims and objectives, what they are clearly aiming to do is steer trouble, muddy the waters, get a right-wing, racist administration in the US basically to be on their side, and they have succeeded to some extent,” he said.

McKinley said that with the DA, it is a bit of a different story as political parties going overseas and visiting other politicians is not out of the ordinary per se in the context of the Government of National Unity in particular.

”It’s not necessarily surprising, but I think the DA wants to have what we call a light version of what AfriForum and Solidarity, in other words, to get the Trump administration to back off but to side with them and their more moderate version of the same criticisms,” he said, adding that the DA was not going to be shrill and as crude as AfriForum and Solidarity.

McKinley continued: “They (DA) are trying to present themselves as the moderate voice. But still to appeal to the inherent racism and inherent ignorance and inherent biases of the Trump administration in its relationships with South Africa.”

He believes the best way to expose the agendas of AfriForum and the Solidarity is by going after them where it counts, which is that they are racists and they want to go back to the old apartheid days and they are using a president that agrees with them to do that.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za