Mbalula Vows ANC Will Fight US Aggression

The African National Congress (ANC) used its National General Council in Boksburg this week to sharpen its stance on Washington, with secretary general Fikile Mbalula telling delegates the party would mobilise to fight what it sees as United States (US) aggression.

Addressing the conference on Wednesday, Mbalula said:

“Our stance is very clear as the ANC. We are a disciplined force of the left. We are anti-imperialist, and we defend our sovereignty and we advance multilateralism. We are against unilateralism. We are advancing for a rules-based system for the world. We are for… reform in institutional mechanisms like the United Nations.

“[T]he United States of America, as a world policeman, we are not for that. We are for multipolarism in the world.

“In as far as the aggression we are facing by the United States of America, in particular the Trump administration, we will mobilise and fight and defend our sovereignty as a country.”

The comments came as a powerful committee of the United States Congress, the Committee on Ways and Means, voted 37 to three to advance a three-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), with committee members saying that South Africa could be excluded from any AGOA extension.

In that same committee, Senator John Kennedy referred to South Africa as “an enemy” of the United States and “a unique problem” for American diplomacy, citing concerns over Pretoria’s foreign policy choices and domestic direction.