Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader John Steenhuisen’s claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa represented himself when he described Russian Leader Vladimir Putin as South Africa’s “valuable ally” are “silly” and show that the party is still pursuing the apartheid government’s foreign policy.

According to Andre Thomashausen, a Professor Emeritus of International and Comparative Law at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and the former Head of the university’s Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law, Steenhuisen’s assertions also proved that South Africa’s second-biggest political organisation paid unconditional allegiance to the United States of America, Great Britain and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). This US-led Western military alliance is supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.

During a bilateral meeting between South Africa and Russia on Tuesday before the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Ramaphosa described Putin as the country’s “most valuable ally and friend.”

Speaking to African Times on Thursday, October 24, Thomashausen said Steenhuisen was blowing hot air because Ramaphosa is South Africa’s elected president, and Pretoria’s foreign policy clearly states that Moscow is the country’s important ally.

“We know that the DA basically continues the foreign policy preferences of the old apartheid government, which is a very strong, unconditional alliance with the United States, Great Britain and NATO. So, they disagree with Russia’s views; they disagree with the BRICS view that equal sovereignty of nations has a different meaning from what America considers, so it’s natural that the DA will disagree with President Ramaphosa. But, to say that he doesn’t represent South Africa is silly because obviously he is the head of state and the president of South Africa together with his Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, and the DA is not part of that,” Thomashausen said.

Ramaphosa appointed Steenhuisen Minister of Agriculture in the Government of National Unity (GNU), which he formed alongside the DA and several other opposition parties after the May general elections. Thomashausen said the DA could not claim to speak on behalf of South Africans because almost 80% of voters rejected the party in the May 2024 general elections.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) received 40,1% of the vote, followed by the DA with 21,8%, former President Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto we Sizwe Party (MKP) with 14,5% and Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 9,5%.

Thomashuisen said the DA could only raise its concerns within the GNU and convince its partners to support its foreign policy positions, favouring the West over China, Russia, or the BRICS bloc.

“Their election results are actually worse than they were five years ago, and they cannot claim to represent South Africa. They are now in a coalition arrangement, the Government of National Unity, and it is within the coalition that they must try the other parties in a coalition to maybe set a different priority on foreign policy. But the foreign policy of South Africa is holding very firmly that Russia is a very important ally, and so is China. Our economic development these days depends more on China than any other country. It is the New Development Bank of BRICS that is helping us to consolidate and rehabilitate our national railways and our energy industries,” he added.

Thomashause stressed that Steenhuisen’s comment was improper and showed he lacked a sense of occasion.

“So I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring party political differences to a big international forum. Those differences must be discussed within the Government of National Unity, not outside of it,” Thomashausen said.

On Monday, Steenhuisen distanced the DA from Ramaphosa’s utterances in a statement titled, “Putin is your ally, Mr President, not South Africa’s”.

“The Democratic Alliance (DA) distances itself from recent comments made by President Ramaphosa during bilateral engagements with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where he stated that “Russia is a valuable ally and friend.” The Democratic Alliance, as a key partner in the Government of National Unity (GNU), rejects this characterisation in no uncertain terms. The Democratic Alliance does not consider Russia, or Vladimir Putin, to be an ally of our Nation. We cannot and will not agree that South Africa should consider an authoritarian regime, that is currently violating international law by waging an imperialist war of aggression against a sovereign state, as an ally,” Steenhuisen said in the statement released in his capacity as DA Leader.

He added that Ramaphosa’s statement could harm South Africa’s trade and international relations prospects.

“At a time when South Africa is experiencing renewed optimism with the first real prospects of economic growth in almost two decades, our government simply cannot afford to make statements that could jeopardise international relations and trade opportunities, which are crucial for realising our key objectives of growth and job creation. As Leader of the Democratic Alliance in the GNU, I reiterate the importance of positions expressed on behalf of the GNU being the subject to full and proper debate within the government mechanisms before being announced as positions of the GNU to ensure maximum consensus and agreement amongst the parties to the GNU,” Steensuisen added.

However, not all GNU partners agreed with him. Patriotic Alliance (PA) President Gayton McKenzie, the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, slammed Steenhuisen.

He said the DA Leader was merely throwing his toys out of the cord because Ramaphosa excluded him from a government delegation to Russia, thus denying him an opportunity to meet Putin.

“The President made a huge mistake by leaving you behind, he should have taken you with and you would have smiled and laughed with President Putin just like you did with President Xi. You are not speaking on behalf of [the] government, the President does, go back to work now, Minister,” McKenzie said on social media platform X.

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, a former University of Cape Town Vice Chancellor, lambasted Steenhuisen for his “inappropriate and irresponsible” claim that Ramaphosa had no authority to represent the country. She said the DA Leader could have objective grounds to argue Putin “is not our ally”. However, Steenhuisen had crossed the line by creating a “factually incorrect and misleading” impression that he was South Africa’s official face, thus publicly disrespecting the president.

“But it is both inappropriate & irresponsible to claim that the Head of State, whom you (along with other MPs) mandated to represent SA in all official capacities (including foreign policy) is not acting on behalf of the nation. In fact, your statement implies that YOU are the voice of SAns on this matter, which is factually incorrect & misleading. As part of the GNU, you share the responsibility for collective governance. If you disagree with the direction of foreign policy, put your argument forward, but stick to the merits even when you lose the debate,” Phakeng responded directly to Steenhuisen’s statement shared on his social media X account.

She said Steenhuisen’s statement undermined Ramaphosa’s integrity and weakened South Africa’s international standing.

“Publicly discrediting your own President’s mandate crosses a line and undermines the integrity of the gov in which you serve. Whatever you say now carries some weight because you are a Minister, so when you publicly challenge him in such a manner, especially on foreign policy, you undermine his authority AND weaken SA’s position internationally. His peers on the BRICS and global stage MUST take him seriously, so when you publicly cast doubt his mandate, it reflects poorly on the entire country. If he appears weak, we all appear weak as a nation and become the laughing stock of the world because he’s our face🤷🏽‍♀️ Yes, we can disagree with him here, but we must present a united front when we are outside and rally behind him.”

It’s not the first time the DA has displayed its allegiance to the West against Russia. On the eve of South Africa’s 2024 general elections in March this year, the party called on Western governments to intervene in the elections, alleging possible vote rigging by the ANC in cahoots with unnamed foreign and “malign actors”, thought by many to be Russia.

In a letter to the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, the DA’s Emma Powell asked him to help “safeguard” South Africa’s democratic processes by deploying resources to add independent, domestic observers.

“We note with increasing alarm the potential for foreign interference in our elections by malign actors. Your country can help to safeguard against any attempts to disrupt the democratic process or negatively influence the South African electorate through misinformation and disinformation campaigns. We therefore expect that any available technological resources designed to mitigate against sinister attempts to manipulate election outcomes, particularly within vulnerable communities,” Powell’s letter said.

Ramaphosa, the ANC and the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa slammed the DA, saying the party undermined the country’s sovereignty. In May 2022, Steenhuisen toured Ukraine in support of Kyiv after the Russia-Ukraine war started three months earlier. This was despite Russia being South Africa’s ally and fellow BRICS member.

The DA also supports Israel in the Gaza war, while South Africa stands by Palestine. Pretoria has filed a genocide case against Tel Aviv at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, Netherlands.