SA political parties to engage in panel discussion on foreign policy

SA is heading towards national elections in 2019. In the past, the country's foreign policy has not been a hotly contested arena in electioneering, but the 2019 elections fall at a time when SA's economy is under severe strain and President Cyril Ramaphosa urgently seeks to revitalise international relations in a$100 billion international investment drive.

The state of global affairs, however, requires an astute balancing act between pragmatism and morality. Following the Libyan debacle, SA's position on the United Nations Security Council will result in it being pushed to pick up lessons from the past and being rated for its contribution to peace and stability in Africa, as well as abroad in Venezuela, Pakistan, Palestine and India.

SA's impending chairship of the African Union (AU) in 2020 will challenge the country to provide leadership on the situation in Zimbabwe and guide the implementation of the AU reform agenda spearheaded by the union's former chairperson, Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Although SA aims to be a promoter of a rules-based international system, how far will it go as a member of the BRICS bloc to change the current global order?

The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung SA Office, in partnership with the International and Public Affairs Cluster, School of Social Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, invites you to join us for a public dialogue: "South African political parties face the world in an election year: A foreign policy panel discussion". The event will be held on 19 March 2019 from 5pm to 7:30pm at the Garden Court Marine Parade Hotel, in Durban.

The legitimacy of South African foreign policy depends on the quality of debate among political parties in SA. The parties identified to participate in this dialogue are the ANC, DA, IFP and EFF. Here, they will discuss with the public their analysis of key international issues affecting SA.

We invite you to participate in this important and timely discussion. To secure your seat, kindly send your confirmation to Abnavien King via e-mail: [email protected].