The Democratic Alliance on Thursday questioned the government’s wisdom in allowing ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide ”visitor status” in South Africa, saying the decision has not been adequately explained.
Government Communications and Information Services chief executive Joel Netshitenzhe earlier on Thursday said that South Africa has agreed to give Aristide a temporary home. This followed a Cabinet lekgotla (meeting) to discuss this and other issues.
Netshitenzhe said the arrangement will be a temporary one, until the situation in Haiti has stabilised to the extent that it will be possible for Aristide and his family to return.
Briefing the media at Parliament, DA foreign affairs spokesperson Douglas Gibson said Aristide rose to power in elections that were fundamentally flawed, and has also been implicated by credible organisations of being directly responsible for gross human rights violations.
”This makes the government decision to embrace Aristide all the more objectionable,” he said.
The DA objected to the costs involved in accommodating Aristide and his entourage at taxpayers’ expense.
”The ministers of foreign affairs and finance need to explain to Parliament and the people of South Africa how much Aristide’s stay is going to cost the South African taxpayer, and where the money is going to come from.”
The African National Congress, however, supports Cabinet’s decision, party spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama said.
”The decision was a reasonable and responsible response to a request from a regional multilateral body that has long been seized with the resolution of the crisis in Haiti,” Ngonyama said.
Netshitenzhe said that an official request to offer Aristide a place to stay until his situation has ”normalised” was made by the African Union after the AU was approached by the Caribbean Economic Community.
In a media briefing in Pretoria, Netshitenzhe said South Africa has agreed to take responsibility for Aristide’s residence and upkeep.
”In acceding to this request South Africa seeks to contribute to international efforts to bring stability to Haiti. South Africa has a responsibility, as an African country and as part of the international community, to ensure that democracy and peace prevail in Haiti and that the people of this country are able democratically to elect their leaders,” he said.
Netshitenzhe said the government supports the call for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Aristide’s removal from office and is committed to building international consensus against unilateral regime changes.
”We hope that all South Africans will handle this matter with dignity and maturity. We believe that as we mature as a democracy and as a country that has got this important role to play in international relations, we would all come to appreciate that international diplomacy does not lend itself to mathematical equations where you would have precise condition of comfort and discomfort, precise resolutions to problems with precise answers,” he said. — Sapa