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Mlambo-Ngcuka calls for greater government engagement on foreign policy

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Former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has described South Africa’s Foreign Policy as “fuzzy’ right now and calls for urgent greater government engagement with civil society and human rights activists on the country’s foreign policy.

She called on government to use its proximity to Russia to call for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and to put pressure on Russia to come to the peace table.

She was speaking on the sidelines of the Global Citizen Now Summit in New York.

Mlambo-Ngcuka says government should use South Africa’s strong relationship with Russia to call on Russian troops to withdraw from the Ukraine.

The former Executive Director of UN Women has also weighed in on the International Criminal Court’s issuing of a warrant of arrest against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She explains Pretoria’s responsibilities as a signatory of the Rome Statute under which the court was established: “We have the South African government and we have the parties, and sometimes the two don’t want the same thing, and that is the challenge that we have. There has to be an effort to make sure that what the party stands for and what the government stands for are aligned. I think right now there are challenges as far as that is concerned.”

Below is the full interview with Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka:

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