Ramaphosa and Putin Plan Call to Discuss War on Ukraine, Peace Push
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this week to discuss Moscow's ongoing war on Ukraine and efforts to end it.
Putin instigated plans to hold the call and will brief Ramaphosa on his trip last week to Alaska, where he discussed the conflict with US leader Donald Trump, South African presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said on Monday.
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Donbas: the object of Putin's desire and the crux of the war in Ukraine
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New York Times
13 minutes ago
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News24
13 minutes ago
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‘Ill-discipline must end': Zibi urges Ramaphosa to sack Maphwanya, Motshekga over Iran row
Rise Mzansi/X Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi calls for the dismissal of SANDF General Rudzani Maphwanya over political remarks made in Iran and Defence Minister Angie Motshekga for defending him. Zibi criticised the general's statements, lack of strategic awareness, and defence forces' mismanagement, citing years of poor audit outcomes. The remarks have sparked tension amid strained Pretoria-Washington relations, with the Presidency distancing itself from Maphwanya's comments. Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi has called for the axe to fall on South African National Defence Force (SANDF) general Rudzani Maphwanya for his political statements during a visit to Tehran last week. Zibi, the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), also believes that Defence Minister Angie Motshekga should be fired for coming out to defend Maphwanya. In his capacity as Rise Mzansi president, the watchdog committee chair told journalists at a press briefing in Rosebank on Monday that the entire saga had irritated him, mostly because he is privy to the department's abysmal audit outcomes over the years. Rise Mzansi is the latest party to call for action after the DA proposed that Maphwanya be court-martialed. 'The general was out of line. If my name were Cyril Ramaphosa and I were the president, I would tell him he's retiring on the 31st of December and somebody is taking over on the 1st of January and name that person,' Zibi said. He said generals or army officers are not supposed to make political statements. What the general said in Iran can be said by Angie Motshekga, not him. That Angie is spineless and does not want to deal with the issue does not mean she is correct. She herself is wrong, and if I were a president, I would also dismiss her as defence minister due to unsuitability and having zero strategic awareness, like the general who has zero strategic awareness, who has zero diplomatic maturity, who thinks he is a politician when he is not. Maphwanya's visit to Iran last week caused a stir after Iranian state media reported that the general has pledged political allegiance to Iran, a known adversary of the United States. This comes amid heightened tensions between Pretoria and Washington. The Presidency and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) have distanced themselves from Maphwanya's statements. Zibi also questioned the urgency of the trip, which Motshekga claimed had been approved in 2024. There was nothing urgent that required the general to go to Iran. READ | 'There is nothing rogue': Motshekga defends Maphwanya's Iran visit and comments 'Why is that interaction important? We have $3.2 billion of trade with the United States annually. With Iran, I think it's about $160 million. 'There is a feeling by South Africans that he's a general, so he should be able to say anything. Nonsense, that's ill-discipline; he must be fired. And it's not the first time the defence forces have gone rogue,' Zibi said. I can give you chapter and verse about how those people have run the army to the ground, those people who buy obsolete equipment, who are fixing an old ship so that it can sail to Cuba for diplomatic relations. Diplomacy is not their job. He added that he had received confidential and non-confidential briefings from the Auditor-General on the defence department's state of affairs. 'They've got the worst audit outcome record of any government department for years by a long stretch. They refuse to accept civilian oversight, and they use the term civilian in derogatory tones within the defence force. 'These are the people who are taking those stupid decisions in the army, and we must mollycoddle them when they waste taxpayers' money and go and say stupid things overseas. 'The army is a mess; those people have destroyed it, and this guy is going to make political statements overseas. 'It is a fact of how much the president has allowed people to act with impunity under his watch that we have a situation like this. That's the problem,' Zibi said.
