South Africa plays down comments by its general visiting Iran

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South Africa plays down comments by its general visiting Iran

8:12 CAT | 15 Aug 2025

File photo: Tehran Times

The South African government distanced itself from remarks by the country’s top general during a visit to Iran, where he criticised Israel and voiced solidarity with the Islamic Republic.

South African National Defence Force Chief Rudzani Maphwanya was quoted by local media declaring that the two nations share common goals, calling for deeper ties. Pretoria’s close ties with Tehran are among points of contention between South Africa and Washington, which slapped a 30% tariff on the sub-Saharan nation’s goods entering the US this month.

“It is crucial to clarify that the implementation of South Africa’s foreign policy is a function of the presidency,” the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement on Wednesday. “The remarks attributed to General Maphwanya, therefore, do not represent the government’s official foreign-policy stance.”

His warm remarks toward Iran, which recently fought a short war with Israel that saw its nuclear facilities bombed by the US, comes at an awkward moment for South Africa.

Pretoria is urgently trying to negotiate a better trade deal with the US, while mending ties that have frayed since he returned to the White House in January.

The Trump administration issued a human-rights report on Tuesday that echoed some of his criticism of South Africa, including false claims that white Afrikaners are the victims of targeted killings and that the government was unlawfully seizing land. Pretoria said the report was “inaccurate and deeply flawed.”

The state hasn’t taken any property government since the end of apartheid in 1994, though millions of people have taken occupation of both private and government-owned property. Official data show that about 12% of households are situated in informal settlements.

Source: Bloomberg