Scores of anti-Ukraine protesters were on Wednesday moved away from the World Movement for Democracy venue in Freedom Park, Tshwane.
Protesters were protesting against the event, saying it was its way of galvanising South Africans to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.
A protester, Moses Mohlala, said they did not want to be involved in Ukraine’s business, adding that South Africa was a peace-loving country.
“We don’t want to be dragged into Ukraine-Russia war, in any case we know as the country who our friends are. Russia stuck with us (South Africa) when it was not fashionable to do so.
“We don’t need any western countries to tell us who our friends are and who we should support in this war,” Mohlala said.
Former ANC spokesperson, Phillip Dexter, also cautioned about such dialogue, adding that organisations such as media houses, universities and NGOs ought to remain independent in the New Cold War and to serve the interests of the people.
“They must not become proxies of the West or any other powerful states competing for influence in the New Cold War.
“The media and the universities are not the only terrains of ideological combat in the New Cold War. The NGO sector is also a central terrain of contestation.
The Brenthurst Foundation has been the most brazen of the South African NGOs when it comes to propagandising for the West. In fact, it goes beyond propagandising and veers into organising,” Dexter added.
The World Movement for Democracy held its 12th Global Assembly in Johannesburg from November 20-22.
The Assembly will bring together more than 500 civil society and political leaders from 100 countries.
Among them there will be representatives of Ukrainian NCOs, including the Centre for Civil Liberties and, the Ukrainian Association of South Africa (UAZA).
Another protestor, Thuto Mashaba, said the conference is organised by the World Movement for Democracy, a project of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
“In other words, this is the NED-sponsored conference in Johannesburg with a serious attempt to tilt South African civil society towards the West, and turn Africa against Russia,” he said.
“It is especially outrageous that a country like Ukraine whose President came to power as a result of a coup will be represented on the sidelines of a ‘democratic conference’. Ukraine, which for many years has pursued a policy of genocide of the Russian people in the historic Russian territories.
“Today Ukrainian NCOs and embassies in Africa, according to experts, are not only trying to drag the countries of the continent into military conflict of other countries. But they are also being used as bases for Ukrainian militants who are engaged in training terrorists throughout Africa,” he said.
Earlier on, the UAZA got the country outraged when they wrapped a statue of Nelson Mandela in their flag, which prompted the EFF’s Secretary-General, Marshal Dlamini, to call for the introduction of strict regulations of the non-profit organisations (NPOs) in the country.
Dlamini described UAZA’s act as arrogant and disrespectful at the time.
“The arrogance displayed by Ukrainian Association of South Africa (UAZA) recently must be condemned. The EFF is an anti-imperialist, anti-racist organisation. So we don’t associate with anything that is NATO-aligned and NATO-sponsored, because we define those organisations as imperialist organisations.
“So anything that is UK, US-funded, including Ukraine, we don't associate with them because they exist to undermine the sovereignty of other countries. So the arrogance that was displayed by this UAZA; it’s what imperialist countries do.”
He said Mandela was just not an ANC president but was someone who stood against apartheid, adding that some of the leaders around the world saw him as a symbol of defiance against apartheid.
“We know who are the apartheid beneficiaries in this country. It’s the Democratic Alliance (DA). We are not friends of these associations and these Ukrainian NPOs.”