President Cyril Ramaphosa is headed to Russia this week, his second visit in just over a month.
There he will be attending the second Russia-Africa summit, aimed at strengthening trade ties between Russia and the continent.
Ramaphosa has found himself in an awkward position since his last visit to St Petersburg, where he convinced the Russian president not to travel to South Africa next month for the BRICS summit.
This after the government grappled with the execution of an international arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.
On Friday, the North Gauteng High Court issued an order compelling government to follow through with a request from the International Criminal Court to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin should he ever travel to South Africa.
It’s against this backdrop that President Ramaphosa will now meet Putin for the second Russia-Africa summit since 2019.
African leaders are set to consider four declarations and an action plan on numerous areas of cooperation from politics, security, and trade to culture, sports, and the youth.
The declarations also seek to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism and information security.
Presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya: “The summit background will also offer an opportunity to African heads of state who are part of the African leaders peace mission to continue talks with President Putin on the confidence-building measures that will create conducive conditions for a path to peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
The Presidency said Ramaphosa would also use this occasion to finalise the contents and substance of the upcoming BRICS summit, which Putin will participate in from a virtual platform.
-EWN
In other news – Social media suspects Sizwe Dhlomo is Anele Mdoda’s baby daddy
Social media is known to have a dark sense of humour and also has zero qualms when it comes to upsetting just about anyone with the things they post online. This time, one popular Twitter user, Chris Excel, decided to share his suspicions about Anele Mdoda’s son Alakhe being her close friend Sizwe Dhlomo’s child.
His post left social media users laughing out loud as they discussed the possibility. While not many were convinced, others discussed the child’s resemblance to Sizwe. Read More
