DA lying about meeting Abbas, says ANC
A ROW between the ANC and DA over the visit to Israel by the official opposition’s leader, Mmusi Maimane, has degenerated into mudslinging after the ruling party accused the DA of lying.
This was after the embassy of Palestine yesterday denied DA claims that Maimane had a scheduled meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The DA had claimed last week that while Maimane had met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, his meeting with Abbas was cancelled.
But the Palestinian embassy denied this.
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa accused the DA of lying. “Lying about an alleged appointment with President Abbas was a cheap attempt by the DA and Mmusi Maimane, in particular, to gain credibility for this visit, which has now spectacularly backfired, exposing the DA for what they are – unprincipled with a callous disregard for the Palestinian people,” he said.
The Palestinian embassy said Abbas had not had any appointment with Maimane. Maimane was due to return to the country yesterday.
However, the DA said the statement by the Palestinian embassy and the ANC was inaccurate. It said the ANC was also wrong not to have checked the facts.
The DA attached documents requesting the meeting between the two sides, and said there were telephonic confirmations on the meeting.
They also had telephonic discussions with Abbas’s office on the visit.
DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said they were later told that Abbas would not be available and the meeting was cancelled.
“We visited the Palestinian territories, met with human rights activists, visited refugees in Ramallah, and met with leaders of the business community and investors who are building the new Palestine,” said Van Damme.
She said the DA was playing its role in international relations after the ANC left a vacuum.
The DA said it would follow up on information from the Palestinian embassy that there was an instruction not to meet with them. It said it went to the Middle East on a fact-finding mission.