(Parliamentary debate: Escalating crisis in the Middle East following the recent US attack on Iran and the implications this has for South Africa)
South Africa’s support for Iran and the negative consequences because of the country’s apparent hostility towards the United States (US) are firmly rooted in the ANC’s historical ties with countries and organisations that supported its liberation struggle.
There is no room for South Africa’s best interests and wellbeing in this ideological game.
Amid the Middle Eastern conflict, it is of the utmost importance to ask how the damage to South Africa can be minimised. The main question is how it affects South Africa and its people.
Ideological ties are meaningless when a country’s people are suffering and going hungry. It cannot buy bread.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) is, however, of the view that it is important to reflect on the conflict in the Middle East, and particularly its impact on South Africa.
The parliamentary debate on the matter and the statements by ANC members have confirmed what the Freedom Front Plus has been saying all along: Long-standing ideological ties guide the country’s foreign policy and conduct.
The problem that arises is that the policy does not keep up with a changing world, where the sole focus should be on what is in South Africa’s best interests.
Iran does not even rank among South Africa’s top thirty trading partners; the US is the country’s second-largest trading partner.
Yet South Africa, through the ANC, embraces Iran while increasingly treating the US as an enemy. This is a dangerous game to play and it will most probably not end favourably for South Africa.
Ideological ties will not help put food on the table for the nearly 43% of unemployed South Africans. Only sensible trade relations with reliable trading partners can achieve that.
