The Department of International Relations and Co-operation has stated that South Africa\u2019s (SA) policy of non-alignment must not be mistaken for neutrality, following recent remarks made by the United States (US) Ambassador to SA, Brent Bozell III.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The government maintained that SA will not be drawn into spreading geopolitical rivalries or be pressured to take sides by outside nations. Officials stressed that the country’s foreign policy remains entirely independent and strictly focused on dialogue, global peace, and national interests.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Department Spokesperson Chrispin Phiri clarified the government’s position, explaining that maintaining a non-aligned stance does not mean the country is indifferent to global events, but rather that it reserves the right to engage openly with all global partners.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Non-alignment must not be conflated with neutrality,” Phiri stated. “We refuse to be drawn into geopolitical contestations or be pressured to take sides; instead, we prioritise inclusive dialogue, global peace, and our own national interests.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Phiri further pointed out the logical inconsistency in the public criticism directed at SA for its diplomatic relationships, noting that the country is being questioned for engaging with nations that the US itself deals with regularly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Accordingly, we reserve the right to cultivate bilateral relations across the global spectrum,” Phiri added. “We note the inherent contradiction in being publicly scrutinised for engaging Iran and China, the very same states with which the US itself continues to actively interact with.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The department concluded that SA will continue to build independent bilateral relationships across the global spectrum based on its own strategic priorities.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21337,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-38039","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA policy of non-alignment must not be mistaken for neutrality","published_date":"2026-06-25 15:02:39","news_description":"SA policy of non-alignment must not be mistaken for neutrality","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38040,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38039\/revisions\/38040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}