”Simplistic and literal” reporting was to blame for suggestions that the African National Congress (ANC) was anti-American, the party said on Thursday.
It sought to dispel conclusions that secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe had implied South Africa might also become a target if the United States was allowed to attack Iraq.
The party’s explanation was prompted by criticism of Motlanthe’s remarks, which he made during a protest on Wednesday against a US-led war on Iraq.
Motlanthe went ”beyond anti-American vitriol and into the realm of support for (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein”, Democratic Alliance (DA) Chief Whip Douglas Gibson said.
New National Party (NNP) MP Boy Geldenhuys warned that Motlanthe’s remarks could jeopardise South Africa’s credibility on the Iraq issue.
The ANC secretary-general told protesters at the US embassy in Pretoria: ”The primary crime of Iraq is the fact that it floats on oil. Because we are endowed with several rich minerals, if we don’t stop this unilateral action against Iraq today, tomorrow they will come for us.”
His remarks came after President Thabo Mbeki rejected the notion in Parliament this week that the government had given South Africa an anti-American label.
The ANC, in a statement in Johannesburg, said news reports on Motlanthe’s protest speech amounted to ”disinformation”.
It added: ”What our secretary-general said and meant was, if the United States can bomb Iraq without sanction of the United Nations, what is to stop it (America) from bombing any other country?
”He only used South Africa as an example because there has been speculation that the motive for America’s move was to get at Iraq’s oil and, if it is true, then any other country could also be invaded for its mineral resources, which South Africa has in abundance.”
The ANC accused some media and opposition politicians of seeking to create the impression that its condemnation of US plans to attack Iraq was tantamount to being anti-America.
”We regret the fact that the media have literally and simplistically interpreted the (Motlanthe’s) speech.”
In a morning news briefing in Cape Town, deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad stressed South Africa’s anti-war stance was not aimed at the US.
He suggested the ANC would have to bring some of its members into line with the government’s policy on the issue.
”I want to believe there is not a major dichotomy on major issues between government policy and party policy,” Pahad said.
But ANC structures should discuss these issues ”to try and get an approach that does not give the impression that while we are anti-war, we are anti-American”.
The ANC said reports on Motlanthe’s speech played into the hands of those wishing to equate anti-war with being anti-American.
South African opposition to a war on Iraq threatened neither the security of US citizens nor the interests of US investors in the country.
South Africa and the US maintained a strong relationship, which did not exclude the ANC or the government expressing their views candidly.
Gibson said Mbeki’s reassurances on South Africa’s sentiments towards the US were being undermined by senior ANC officials.
”There is a price to pay for each bit of verbal excess. Lose lips sink ships,” he said.
The ANC vowed to stick to its anti-war position.
It added: ”We appeal to the United Nations to support our position and help avert the holocaust that America’s intended war would throw the world into.” ‒ Sapa