Request for US election observers slammed by South African official

The ruling South African African National Congress (ANC) party has lashed out at the country's opposition over their alleged attempts to involve the US in the country's upcoming election. In an exclusive interview with RT, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri insisted South Africa will protect its hard-won democracy against any attempts at meddling.

Her comments come after the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa's main opposition party, wrote to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, requesting assistance in deploying independent local observers ahead of the upcoming May 29 vote.

South Africans will block any attempts at interfering in the upcoming elections, Bhengu-Motsiri said, while accusing the Democratic Alliance (DA) party of activities that “undermine existing institutions” of the country.

“No South African will allow a situation in which our sovereignty is handed over on a silver platter,” she stated, adding that Pretoria will not “back down on our values and the things that we’ve always stood for and the things that our forebears stood for.”

According to Bhengu-Motsiri, there are other parties in South Africa who believe that “the DA is hell-bent on maintaining white supremacy in the country.” 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has stated that the DA is trying to sell out the country to the US. “The DA’s letter to the United States government is quite disingenuous and it is almost trying to sell our country to other powers in the world,” Ramaphosa was quoted as saying by state broadcaster SABC. 

“We have regional organizations in the world like SADC [Southern African Development Community], AU [African Union], and… the UN as well. And they always come to monitor our elections and now for a non-state entity to sell our democracy,” he added.