DIRCO’s Defends “Will for Peace” Exercise

Statement by Ryan Smith MP – DA Spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Ronald Lamola, for his public defence of South Africa hosting sanctioned Iranian and Russian naval vessels during the BRICS+ Exercise “Will for Peace”. Minister Lamola’s utterances demonstrate a deep ineptitude for foreign affairs from South Africa’s chief diplomat who frequently uses undiplomatic language, clings desperately to outdated 1960s ANC ideology, and cares more about his party political dogma than the national interest.

Minister Lamola is the civilian authority responsible for ensuring that our international engagements align with the Constitution and the national interest. Yet despite clear knowledge of the participation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a sanctioned military entity currently implicated in the violent suppression of civilian protests, the Minister continues to defend South Africa hosting military exercises with nations actively involved in reversing and stifling the universal freedoms enshrined in our constitution.

This open defiance is a blatant abdication of Minister Lamola’s responsibility to the Republic, and brings into sharp question South Africa’s status as a non-aligned actor on the international stage.

Minister Lamola’s wilful negligence has dire diplomatic implications in a rapidly shifting global environment where South Africa’s national defence and foreign policy ministries, which are run by ANC ministers entirely in the Government of National Unity (GNU), are leading our country into a moral and ethical abyss.

By allowing the Department of Defence to proceed unchecked in these military exercises, Minister Lamola has effectively outsourced South Africa’s foreign policy to the whims of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), exposing the country to serious diplomatic and economic risk. South Africa is now perceived not as a principled non-aligned state, but as a willing host for military cooperation with authoritarian regimes.

This failure of leadership is especially reckless given South Africa’s deep economic ties with the European Union, our largest trading partner, at a time when Russia’s war of aggression has destabilised Europe and threatens European peace. One cannot credibly manage relations with democratic partners while simultaneously welcoming the naval assets of sanctioned international aggressors into South African waters.

Our membership within BRICS+ as a multilateral organisation is untenable if Minister Lamola allows South Africa to be used as a pawn in a greater game by maligned states to destabilise the international rules-based order and trample upon the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights upon which our Republic is forged.

Non-alignment does not mean moral indifference, nor does it permit passive complicity. It requires active judgment. Minister Lamola’s dangerous misjudgement in this debacle shows a dire breach in his constitutional obligations which carries real consequences for the South African people and their livelihoods.

The DA therefore calls on Minister Lamola to withdraw his reckless comments and urgently:

• withdraw any sanctioned vessels from Exercise “Will for Peace”;
• open diplomatic channels to ensure the departure of sanctioned Iranian and Russian vessels from our waters; and
• reassert civilian diplomatic oversight over all military engagements involving foreign states as a matter of foreign policy and not just a military exercise.

The political and economic consequences are too severe for the status quo to continue, and South Africa cannot continue to be embarrassed by a DIRCO minister who has yet to grasp his constitutional mandate.

South Africa’s foreign policy must serve the Constitution and the national interest, not the ANC’s three world typology nostalgia or the ambitions of authoritarian allies. Minister Lamola must choose whether he is the custodian of South Africa’s values, or merely a bystander to their erosion.