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The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the unlawful imprisonment of Tanzania’s opposition leader, Tundu Lissu of the Party for Democracy and Progress (CHADEMA) on trumped-up charges of treason by the Tanzanian government as the country holds its general election today.

The detainment of Tundu Lissu, along with fellow Tanzanian opposition politician, John Heche, marks an alarming trend of democratic backsliding that has become commonplace in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) while the South African government watches on.

The deafening silence by President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Ronald Lamola, on these developments is indicative of the ANC’s allegiance not to the principles of freedom and democracy enshrined in our constitution, but to the African brotherhood of despots which continues to hold Southern African nations hostage to satiate their own greed and desire for power beyond the confines of the rule of law.

President Ramaphosa and Minister Lamola continue to publicly state that South Africa’s foreign policy is underpinned by the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights outlined in the constitution of the republic.

Their words ring hollow as they continue to tacitly endorse and celebrate their SADC counterparts who continue to trample on democracy and silence the voices of their people to prolong the tyranny of African liberation movements turned dictatorships.

Furthermore, South Africa’s pursuit of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is stillborn if liberal democracy and government stability and transparency are not upheld as a vital framework upon which regional African economies can develop and integrate.

It is not in South Africa’s national interest to be surrounded by non-democratic and illiberal nation states which threaten our social and economic stability in turn.

The DA calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Ronald Lamola to take seriously their sworn allegiance to the South African constitution, and the wellbeing of Southern Africa’s people, by using our country’s role as a regional power to speak out against the flagrant attack on democracy in Tanzania and SADC at large.

As we have seen in Zimbabwe, our failure to address the democratic backslide in our region ultimately becomes South Africa’s cross to bear.

Today’s election in Tanzania is neither free nor fair when the state apparatus is being used to muzzle opposition leaders and control democratic processes.

It is binding on South Africa to advance freedom and democracy in our region in the spirits of the thousands of our citizens who died fighting for it.

Anything less is an act of submission to the values which would destroy our constitution and its internationally renowned liberal values along with it.

Issued by Ryan Smith MP - DA Spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation