Cape Town: The ANC in the Western Cape has been accused of attacking Premier Alan Winde and the provincial government for unequivocally condemning the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

Premier Alan Winde's spokesperson, Cayla Murray, lashed out at the party and said the ANC had made its position on the illegal invasion of Ukraine clear.

"They refuse to name the aggressor or admit that this is a violation of international law. You will find no condemnation of the government of the Russian Federation in their statement," Murray said.

She said it was more outraged by the government’s decision to take a principled stand in support of international law and human rights, than by an illegal invasion of a sovereign state that was seeing hundreds of civilians died, saying that was inexplicable.

"The Western Cape government cannot and will not remain silent in the face of a major international crisis that threatens the very foundation of our liberal international order," Murray said.

This comes after the ANC Western Cape, in a statement on Thursday, noted "the desperate and embarrassing attempts by Alan Winde to run a parallel state from that which is unitary and democratically elected by the people of this country".

It said that ordinarily, it would not respond to the DA’s “desperate clamouring for attention”. However, it believed that the premier and his provincial government had crossed the line.

"The South African democratic constitution defines our country as a unitary state. Provinces do not enjoy federal status where they can willy-nilly develop policies that are directly opposed to policies and positions taken at the national level," the ANC Western Cape said.

It said matters of international relations were managed and driven at national level through the Department of International Relations and Cooperations (Dirco).

"One provincial minority government cannot override nor define itself outside of the overall governance of our country," it said.

It said President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC government had correctly expressed deep concerns on the escalation of hostilities between the Ukrainian and Russian governments.

"We have called for and supported efforts aimed at encouraging dialogue as a means to find lasting solutions and discouraged at all material times the use of brute force to settle conflict," it said.

It said the ANC would oppose every attempt by the DA in the Western Cape to run a parallel state.

sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za

Cape Argus