Johannesburg- Several sections of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, have called in a manifesto handed over, in Johannesburg last week, to the party’s Secretariat, to strengthen bilateral ties with Morocco and recognize the Kingdom’s invaluable support in the fight against apartheid.
“We call on the ANC to recognize Morocco’s pioneering support for the struggle against apartheid, as acknowledged by President Nelson Mandela in his speeches, books, magazines and through several visits to Morocco,” the manifesto signatories stressed.
They recalled that before Algerian independence and the establishment of training programs in that country, freedom fighters from the Algerian Liberation Army and the ANC, including Nelson Mandela himself, received training in Morocco.
This unequivocal support from the Kingdom, they said, also included financial and military assistance to the ANC and the creation of its military wing “uMKhonto WeSizwe”. It has also provided political support, by hosting the ANC’s office, and political promotion during the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), of which Morocco is a founding member, following the Casablanca Conference, which gave, among other things, strong and clear support to the fight against colonialism and apartheid, note the signatories of the manifesto.
They stressed that ANC and South Africa must look for means to improve their strategic commitment to Morocco, in order to coordinate policies and programs to the benefit of African peoples and achieve the objective of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the progressive agenda of the two like-minded countries.
Morocco is now an economic powerhouse on the continent and home to significant South African investment and business, the signatories said, adding that greater synergies between the two countries can help achieve the national economic interests of the peoples of both countries, and unlock the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Referring to the Sahara issue, the ANC sections said that the majority of African countries recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces. They therefore urge South Africa to continually call for a peaceful resolution to the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, and to refrain from supporting parties calling for military action. “The ANC and South Africa should support the Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 2756 adopted on October 30, 2024, which calls on Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and +polisario+ to negotiate in good faith and in a spirit of compromise, and to sit around the roundtable to reach a just, equitable and mutually acceptable political solution,” the signatories stated.
The manifesto added that the ANC and South Africa should take stock of and learn from the strong international support for the Moroccan Sahara Autonomy Initiative, which aims to resolve this artificial dispute, pointing out that “more than 110 UN member countries support this Initiative.”
They concluded that “South Africa must call on Algeria, Mauritania and +polisario+, as requested by the UN Security Council, to examine the Moroccan autonomy proposal, submitted in 2007 to end the deadlock.”
The current situation reveals a growing rift within the ANC regarding its foreign policy direction.
This internal division within the ANC shows broader shifts in African diplomacy regarding Morocco, as more countries on the continent recognize Morocco’s territorial integrity and seek stronger economic partnerships with the North African country.
