MAPISA-NQAKULA: SOUTH AFRICA WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF RUSSIA

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula delivered closing remarks at the second Russia-Africa parliamentary conference, also addressed by President Vladimir Putin.

FILE: National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. Picture: @PresidencyZA/Twitter

Lindsay Dentlinger | 20 March 2023 20:50

CAPE TOWN - National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said that South Africa would continue to support Russia and look to it for economic support.

She was delivering the closing remarks at the second Russia-Africa parliamentary conference in Moscow over the weekend.

The gathering was also addressed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has pledged ongoing support to African nations in the fields of nuclear energy, training, and education.

Mapisa-Nqakula has appealed to Russia to help Africa obtain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

"If that does not happen, we will continue to have the kinds of conflicts we are seeing on our continent," she added.

She said that South Africa would continue to look to Russia for support in the quest for economic and political prosperity.

"We will continue to lean on you, and you can rest assured that, as a country and as a people of South Africa, we will continue to support the people of Russia," she said.

Mapisa-Nqakula also offered for South Africa to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine while attending the inter-parliamentary union in Bahrain.

She said that sanctions imposed by the Western world on African nations as a result of conflict on the continent, was a human rights violation.