We're staying in the Commonwealth – Ramaphosa

The government has no intentions of pulling SA out of the Commonwealth, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said in a parliamentary reply to a written question asked by the African Transformation Movement (ATM). The rejection of the Commonwealth for its imperialist origins informed the ATM’s question to Ramaphosa, party president Vuyo Zungula told The Star. ‘This is disguised colonialism,’ he said. ‘We want SA to break away from all the colonial circles that exist. Our colonisers are the reason why our natural resources do not belong to the people of SA. They are the reason why people don’t have the land.’ But Ramaphosa said: ‘The work of the Commonwealth is in line with SA’s foreign policy commitments to human rights, democracy, good governance, justice and international law, peace, economic development, multilateralism and promoting the African Agenda. For SA, the Commonwealth provides a platform to forge common approaches to these matters of global importance and to promote trade, investment and the exchange of skills and knowledge between countries.’ Ramaphosa said another reason SA would not leave the Commonwealth was that the grouping played an instrumental role in the campaign against apartheid.