Parliament - Parliament has entered the fray on the spat between the ANC and DA over recent travels by Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga to Taiwan and Mmusi Maimane to Israel, which left the ANC fuming.
Chairman of the portfolio committee on international relations Siphosezwe Masango said on Thursday they would be discussing the Foreign Service Bill with politicians.
He said the recent controversy over the trips by the DA leaders had created confusion and it was the role and responsibility of Parliament to clear the air.
Masango said the discussion on the Bill was necessary in the current political climate, and the talk would end any misunderstanding.
He said trips by politicians overseas had created this confusion on South Africa’s foreign policy.
“The trips abroad may undermine South Africa’s foreign policy and the work of the president. Foreign relations are the preserve of government,” said Masango.
“This situation is concerning and makes the pending Foreign Service Bill even more important so that people do not misrepresent the country unknowingly. This can hurt South Africa’s economy and trade relations.”
After Msimanga's trip to Taiwan, which has no diplomatic ties with South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said he would address the issue of the country’s foreign policy at the meeting of the Presidential Co-ordinating Council.
But Maimane’s visit to Israel last week, where he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu and other leaders in Tel Aviv, angered the ANC.
The Palestinian embassy in Pretoria this week denied claims by the DA that it had scheduled a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, but that it was cancelled at the last minute.
Masango said they would host a meeting in Pretoria on Tuesday to discuss the Foreign Service Bill.
He said there needed to be synergy on South Africa’s foreign policy.
But DA spokesman on international relations Stevens Mokgalapa said the ANC government did not have a coherent foreign policy.
It didn't know what was the national interests of the country.
He said the ANC was moving away from the human rights policy of Nelson Mandela.
“In the main what should drive our foreign policy is our domestic interests, and our national interests are unemployment, inequality and poverty,” he said.