BRICS/Africa Meeting: South African Analyst Blasts ANC Government’s Untenable Contradictions

South African analyst Sifiso Mahlangu blasted on Saturday the African National Congress (ANC)-led South African government’s untenable contradictions regarding the “BRICS/Africa” meeting scheduled for August 24 in Johannesburg. The South African government has trapped itself by inviting entities that have no democratic basis or sovereignty, Mahlangu told MAP, stressing that Morocco remains a sovereign country defending its legitimate interests. The BRICS is a grouping of states and, as such, should not be transformed into a forum of entities, non-governmental organizations or ethnic groups, warned the South African analyst. He said that the ANC’s internal affairs and its sources of funding from countries like Algeria must not affect BRICS, pinpointing the pernicious Algerian-South African alliance. Algeria has become a central player in the instability of the West African region, noted Mahlangu, an influential commentator and specialist in African issues, underlining that Algeria’s destabilizing role is a source of deep concern. He added that in this post-Covid19 era, the world is no longer a world of separation and disunity. It is a world of sovereign states that must work together on vital issues of economic cooperation, he said. An authorized source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates said that for the Kingdom of Morocco, there has never been any question of responding positively to the invitation to the “BRICS/Africa” meeting scheduled to take place in South Africa, or of taking part in this meeting at any level whatsoever. In response to recent media reports referring to a hypothetical bid by the Kingdom to join the “BRICS” group, as well as its possible participation in the next “BRICS/Africa” meeting, scheduled for August 24 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the same source stresses that this was not a BRICS or African Union initiative, but an invitation from South Africa, in its national capacity.