Aristide spoke for poor - Zuma
2004-06-04 10:15
Cape Town - The coming to the shores of South Africa of deposed Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was done in the context of "a wider African community, identity and expression of solidarity", said Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Thursday.
Aristide - who was driven from power earlier this year - was welcomed in South Africa earlier this week by President Thabo Mbeki.
Speaking in her budget vote in an extended public committee in the National Assembly, Dlamini Zuma said it was this reason that "gave impetus" to South Africa''s participation in the bi-centenary celebrations in Haiti earlier this year - before Aristide had lost power - "and our concern with the future of this country".
"It is also this that has allowed us to accede to the request to accept President Aristide on to our shores. President Aristide dared to speak for the poor of Haiti. He dared to ask for compensation to correct a historic injustice."
Speaking in the debate United Democratic Movement leader General Bantu Holomisa said Aristide's presence in South Africa had set a precedent and he warned that "a queue of people" in a similar position could be "on the way".
Democratic Alliance foreign affairs spokesperson Douglas Gibson said former President Nelson Mandela wrote in 1994 that the pillars of South Africa''s foreign policy rested upon the beliefs that human rights were central to international relations.
But Gibson said "with countries such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Haiti the government has shown a reluctance to stand up decisively for these ideals".
"Misplaced loyalties, based on liberation credentials or race have become the government's defining criteria for its interaction with these and other states.
"As an increasingly mature actor on the world stage we must become more pragmatic. If we do not do so, then the contradictions so evident in our foreign policy will continue unabated. We need to focus on our own interests with an unshakeable commitment to human rights and good government."
Referring to Aristide, Gibson said: "Our relations with the displaced leader of that country hold no tangible benefit for the people of South Africa and the values we uphold. Yet we embrace Aristide, a discredited leader, implicated in serious human rights abuses."