Are South Africa’s minister of International Co-operation, Naledi Pandor, and our ambassador to the UN Mxolisi Nkosi, on the same page regarding national sovereignty?
A major policy document released by the Department of International Co-operation (DIRCO) in July titled “A framework document on South Africa’s national interest and its advancement in a global environment” is very clear about sovereignty. It defined our national interest as “the protection and promotion of its national sovereignty and constitutional order and well-being and prosperity of its citizens “
That standpoint, of course, is carried in the preamble of the constitution which refers to South Africa as “a sovereign state.” Yet Ambassador Nkosi has committed us to a World Health Organisation (WHO) treaty which severely undermines sovereignty.
Endorsed by a majority of WHO members on July 21 – except Russia, China, India and 47 African states – the Disease Surveillance treaty gives the Director-General of the WHO authority to declare a public health emergency in any country without the consent of its government. It also gives the WHO authority over global bio-security which involves travel, mandatory vaccinations and passports.
In supporting the treaty, Ambassador Nkosi stated: “The most important lesson Covid-19 taught us is the need for stronger collective defences against health threats. A new pandemic treaty is central to this” (quoted in Robert F Kennedy’s The Defender, August 9).
In terms of that treaty South Africa has signed away its sovereign rights to determine its health status and policies. It subjugates South Africa to the dictates of Tedros, the WHO Director-General, an Ethiopian politician with no medical expertise. In July he unilaterally over-ruled a panel of medical experts by declaring an international monkeypox emergency despite the panel’s 6:3 vote against the declaration.
How can Minister Pandor claim “the well-being and safety of its citizens is a national interest” when the country is subject to the dictates of an external body with vested interests in promoting health alarmism and experimental vaccines?
And what is the position of South Africa’s opposition parties on this breach of national sovereignty?
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