International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola has condemned the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump and urged Americans to solve their problems through the ballot box. He stated that South Africa would engage with whoever Americans voted for, and Pretoria had already sent a delegation to engage with both Republicans and Democrats. Lamola confirmed that South Africa would continue to participate in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) and would continue to engage with US lawmakers to ensure SA continued to participate in the peace process in Ukraine.
Lamola also condemned the coups that have toppled elected governments and replaced them with military juntas in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso in West Africa. As a constitutional democracy, South Africa believed that changes of government should happen only through the ballot. He said that the "gracious" way the ANC had accepted the loss of its majority in the recent painful elections had sent a message to the entirety of the African continent.
Lamola supported Zimbabwe's attempt to rejoin the Commonwealth, which it left about 20 years ago to pre-empt expulsion. He said that the way to resolve disputes in Zimbabwe is to allow the people of Zimbabwe to go through their own democratic processes and resolve the crisis with the help of the people of the world.
Lamola was asked about Pretoria's efforts to resolve the war in Sudan, and he said that Ramaphosa had spoken to one of the generals involved in the civil war. He said that there are processes for him to speak to the other leader, and they will continue to open the lines of communications for both parties to be involved in an initiative to find peace in the area.
Lamola was also asked why the Just Energy Transition to renewable energy seemed to be taking so long in South Africa. He claimed that South Africa had been forced to bring back some of its coal-fired power stations because of load shedding, which explained why there had been no power cuts for almost 100 days. This had affected the amounts that South Africa could claim from the Just Energy Transition Partnership with Western countries in terms of renewables.
Lamola also defended the National Health Insurance policy, saying South Africa could not continue with a health system where 10% of the population was served by medical aids and 90% by public health. He addressed an event at Westminster Abbey celebrating 30 years of South African democracy, which had been the largest such event outside South Africa, attended by about 1,500 people.
