Editor’s Note: Please note that the story has been amended to reflect the correct name of the committee chairperson, Supra Mahumapelo.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Co-operation says it will soon invite the department to explain the circumstances that led to US Ambassador to South Africa, Leo Brent Bozell III, to be demarched for the third time in nine months.
In a statement, the committee has called for respect for South Africa’s sovereignty and the judiciary, while it awaits the full briefing by the department.
“The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations requires diplomats to respect the laws and regulations of the recieving state and not interfere in its internal affairs. Public commentary that undermines the decisions of our Constitutional Court and questions domestic transformation policies aimed at redressing apartheid inequalities is incompatible with diplomatic norms,” reads the statement in part.
Committee Chairperson, Supra Mahumapelo, says, “We reaffirm South Africa’s commitment to international law, multilateralism, non-racialism as enshrined in our Constitution.”
Meanwhile, the United States has reaffirmed its demands on South Africa.
The State Department says Ambassador Bozell met South African officials to discuss bilateral relations, but insisted Pretoria must respond to US President Donald Trump’s executive order that continues to frame the current diplomatic standoff.
That order challenged South Africa’s land policies and its international positions, including its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
SA-US diplomacy | Washington labels Bozell’s reprimand undiplomatic
