SOUTH Africa expressed disappointment on Sunday after the United States and other Western powers wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa urg
ing him to tackle corruption, and said those countries had breached diplomatic protocol.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, had sent a joint memorandum to Ramaphosa through their diplomatic missions in Pretoria to warn that foreign investment was at risk unless South Africa takes tangible action against perpetrators of corruption and other serious
crimes.
The countries also expressed concern over what they called ‘obstacles’ to foreign investment such as ‘constant changes of goal posts’ in the regulatory framework for mining and black economic empowerment targets, the paper said. It did not say when the memo was sent.
South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said it had noted ‘with disappointment the dispatching of a memorandum to the office of the presidency’ by the five embassies.
