Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he spoke to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday and urged him to help implement Kyiv’s peace plan to end the war with Russia. Zelensky made the remarks in a video address from Rome, a day after Ramaphosa spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, ANC member Obedient Bapela this week told the Sunday Times it was untrue that Luthuli House had been ignoring Brigety’s requests for dialogue.
“The level of trust has been breached,” said Bapela, who expressed his disappointment in Brigety.
The ambassador apologised “unreservedly” for his comments on Friday, according to the department of international relations & co-operation, after the South African government summoned him to a meeting with minister Naledi Pandor.
Brigety on Thursday said the ANC had “hostility” towards the US, adding this was one of the concerns Washington had expressed at a meeting with a special delegation that had been sent to the US by Ramaphosa recently.
He cited a resolution the party adopted at its elective conference last year that blamed the war in Ukraine on US foreign policy and the expansion of Nato.
But a disappointed Bapela said Brigety was not telling the truth about being snubbed by the ANC as party officials had met with him in Pretoria three weeks ago.
“For him to say he has not met the ANC is not telling the truth. When we came in, the officials at Luthuli House informed us that there is this pressure that has been there from last year from ambassador Brigety. That he wants to meet the ANC; we were asked to meet him as the new leadership.”
The media has seen correspondence confirming the meeting between Brigety and Bapela at a venue in Pretoria.
Bapela said that when he returned from a working visit with the United Russia Party in Moscow between March 30 and April 2, he received a call from Brigety and the two agreed to meet.
