Deputy President Jacob Zuma has ruled out protecting South African farmers in Zimbabwe, saying Pretoria should not interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries.
This appears to contradict a statement made earlier in the day by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad.
Asked by the Federal Alliance’s Sakkie Blanche during parliamentary question time what Pretoria was doing to protect South African interests in Zimbabwe, Zuma accused the MP of arrogance.
”That’s very arrogant. You cannot, as a South African government, go to some country (and say) this particular farmer, why are you mistreating this farmer?
”Where have you ever heard that? You can see you are not running any county. You have no responsibility,” he said.
The Democratic Party’s Andries Botha — who recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe — questioned why the government could not interfere on behalf of South African investors in that country.
”This is distinctly different from what countries like France, the Netherlands and Germany have achieved,” he said.
Botha said he had visited one farm where the French government had successfully intervened and stopped the Zimbabwean government ”from invading and taking away the investments of their citizens”.
It was currently planting season in Zimbabwe, which was the last chance to save the investments of South African farmers there.
”When can we expect any protection?” he asked.
Zuma replied: ”Again we have a problem, because you want us to emulate France, Germany… We can’t. We cannot. We are South Africa, and we remain South Africa with our clear policies of how to relate to other countries.
”We can’t be told by other countries what to do and what not to do. If one day, any country tries to suggest how South Africa must run its affairs, we’ll be in serious problems with that country.
”We cannot. (It’s) very clear. We cannot help you. We cannot go to Zimbabwe and tell the Zimbabweans, do this or do not do that. It’s not our duty, that’s not what we were elected to do. We were elected to run South Africa and not Zimbabwe.”
Earlier on Thursday, Pahad said Pretoria was very keen a bilateral agreement on protecting investments was signed with Zimbabwe.
”We are very keen as foreign affairs that this agreement gets signed very quickly because it does give South African investors some form of legal protection,” he told reporters in Cape Town.
South Africa’s High Commissioner Jerry Ndou had been instructed to take up any case of a South African who was experiencing difficulties in Zimbabwe.
The problem had been that not many South Africans in Zimbabwe had registered with the High Commission.
There was only about eight or 10 who had done so, although a further list of 75 names had subsequently been given to the commission.
”We are following this up and to see what if any we can do to protect South African interests in Zimbabwe.”
Pahad said he would also follow up with Ndou whether any progress had been made in ensuring that South African farmers were returned to their land in Zimbabwe. – Sapa