US CUTS MILITARY TIES WITH SA

US President Donald Trump has ordered America’s Defence Security Co-operation Agency to cut all ties with South Africa.

This includes all cooperation with the South African National Defence Force.

The Sunday Times reports that a memo dated 13 March states that all foreign aid and assistance offered to South Africa will be suspended. Any South African military personnel in the US for training should be sent back to South Africa as soon as possible.

The order, signed by President Trump, also supersedes the recent exception approved for foreign military financing students globally.

According to former DA shadow Minister of Defence Kobus Marais, South Africa doesn’t rely on the US for its defence capabilities, but any drastic change will negatively impact its capabilities.

Rapport reports that the US has informed South Africa military attache Brigadier General Richard Maponyane that he has to leave the country immediately.

Maponyane said he and his assistants were told they’re no longer welcome in the US and that specific individuals in South Africa might soon be targeted with sanctions against them.

The military blow comes only a few weeks after South Africa’s Ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, was asked to leave the US after he accused Trump of leading a global white supremacy movement.

Image credit: The Citizen