Ramaphosa defends S Africa’s neutral stance on Russia’s war

Bloomberg

President Cyril Ramaphosa defended South Africa’s neutral stance towards Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying it placed him in a stronger position to help mediate an end to the conflict.
“Neutrality can cost and fortunately we’re not alone in all this, there are many others that have chosen the same path,” Ramaphosa said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of an investment summit in Johannesburg. “The benefit in all this is that we can talk to both sides.”
South Africa has close ties with Russia, which backed the fight to end White-minority rule, and was among 35 countries that abstained from a March 2 vote on a United Nations resolution criticising the invasion — a stance that drew criticism from the US and European Union.
Ramaphosa spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month, and in a subsequent Twitter posting he said that South Africa had been “approached to play a mediation role” in the war.
The South Africa leader said that approach had come from “non-state institutions,” and that Putin had indicated support for talks to end the crisis.