The South African anc-led government continues to show solidarity with Iran even as the West grapples with trying to stop the Islamic Republic from becoming a nuclear threat. In late January, South Africa’s parliament speaker visited Iran, voicing support for its nuclear program and calling for an expansion of relations between Pretoria and Tehran. Iranian officials also expressed a desire to enhance ties in all areas with South Africa, and for South African investors to be more active in Iran’s economic projects.

South Africa’s Speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu met with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Larijani, in Tehran on January 23. According to the Tehran Times, Larijani said “that the South African parliament speaker’s trip to Iran can pave the way for the expansion of relations between the two countries in the political, economic and parliamentary spheres” (January 24).

Iran’s finance and economic affairs minister, Shamseddin Hosseini, said trade between Iran and South Africa, currently at $150 million, must increase. “He said that the two countries will soon hold a joint economic meeting and an Iranian delegation plans to visit South Africa to review financial venues” (ibid., January 26).

In calling for an expansion of ties between the two countries, the South African Parliament speaker said “that Iran’s Islamic Revolution inspired the South African people in their struggle against apartheid. Mr. Sisulu also criticized the U.S. for applying double standards toward Iran’s nuclear energy program while turning a blind eye toward Israel’s nuclear activities, and said South Africa supports Iran’s right to have a peaceful nuclear energy program” (ibid.). Sisulu reportedly referred to America’s policy on Iran’s nuclear program as an “arrogant one.”

Iran’s irib reported that Sisulu “called Iran … a civilized and powerful country with plenty of capacities for growth …. He described Iran [as] a friend of African countries, especially South Africa ….”

South African Member of Parliament Ian Davidson, chief whip of the opposition Democratic Alliance, released a statement yesterday, asking, “Why is South Africa’s Parliament courting Iran?” Davidson confirmed Sisulu’s visit to the Islamic Republic at the invitation of Larijani, pointing out:

The visit coincided almost exactly with Iran’s execution of two opposition activists, convicted of “trying to topple the Islamic establishment” after they were linked to protests that took place last June, following the disputed Iranian presidential election. …

The question is: Why is the speaker of South Africa’s Parliament visiting a country with such an appalling human rights record and, instead of speaking out against the obvious abuses, using it as a platform to attack the West? The answer is: because the anc, from Zimbabwe through to Iran, has always placed a country’s historic ties with its liberation cause above any other consideration; and so principle has been subverted by political solidarity and our international reputation on human rights reduced to nothing more than empty rhetoric and meaningless gestures.

Davidson notes that President Jacob Zuma is continuing the same policies as his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who “ensured that South Africa’s international reputation as a champion of human rights was fundamentally tarnished by its approach to Zimbabwe and its conduct in the United Nations.”

South Africa has consistently sided with Arab and Muslim entities, and against American and Israeli interests, in the UN.  http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=6949.5466.0.0