Activists oppose war games with Russia
Local environmental conservation organisation, The Green Net, joined the nationwide protest which was also held in Durban and Cape Town last week.
A number of South Coast residents gathered at Tweni Beach on Friday, last week to protest against the government’s decision to host the Russian Federation and China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy to participate in war games off the KwaZulu-Natal coastline.
Local environmental conservation organisation, The Green Net, joined the nationwide protest which was also held in Durban and Cape Town.
Helen Dodge of The Green Net told Fever that: “The Russian and Chinese Navy have had military ships in our waters (Cape Town and Durban) as far as we know and my understanding is that it is part of a display of military strength and a sort of manoeuvre exercise. We do not know what exactly they are doing or planning to do but the rumours are that they will be firing off some missiles to test whether one can defend themselves against the missiles and so on.”
Dodge added that her concerns from a social point of view is that the planned military exercise falls on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
She said that they were pleased that President Cyril Ramaphosa did not take sides in the Russia and Ukraine War.
She added that the issue is that by allowing the exercise in South African waters makes it look like the country is in support of Russia.
“And that is not representative of South African people on the ground because we never voted for this, none of us agreed to be aligned with Russia in the war and also from an environmental point of view – if ships on the sea are shooting off missiles, the damage to our marine life can be very serious. There is enough concern, there has been protests all around the country,” she said.
Several civil society and environmental organisations, such as the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, and the Coalition of the Poor announced in a joint media release that they are saying “NO! to War Games with Russia”.
Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), officiated the annual Armed Forces Day programme in Richard’s Bay, on Tuesday, February 21.
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