Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga's trip to Taiwan has ruffled a few feathers with the African National Congress (ANC) caucus in Tshwane and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) who said the move was against the "One China" policy.
Spokesperson for the ANC caucus in the Tshwane council, Lesego Makhubela, said the party would raise the matter with the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), and threatened legal action.
Makhubela said all levels of government "all operate according to the Constitution and laws and policies made by national Parliament", so "local government may not do anything that is against the laws or policies set down by the national government. We are without doubt characterising this trip as treason and we will be consulting with the MEC of Cogta and law enforcement agencies on the implications of this trip."
Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela told The Citizen he had diplomatic concerns over the trip. Monyela called the office and indicated that the visit was "not sanctioned by the South African government".
"The executive mayor knows our views and was advised against undertaking this trip. The South African government respects the One China Policy," Monyela said.
Makhubela said the trip was an attempt to rebuild relations that existed between the apartheid government and countries that had supported apartheid and the dehumanisation and oppression of African people.
"We need to remind the people of Tshwane that the Pretoria apartheid regime enjoyed a strong relationship with the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. Taiwan, like other friends of apartheid and the leadership of the DA, never cared how black people were treated in their own country and continued to have economic and diplomatic ties with a murderous and racist Pretoria regime," said Makhubela.
Msimanga's spokesperson Samkelo Mgobozi defended the trip, saying suggestions that Msimanga was contradicting the national position on the One China Policy by traveling to Taipei to honour an invitation was short sighted and misrepresented.
He said Msimanga was taking time out of his own personal leave to visit the mayor of Taipei on his invitation to explore possible investment opportunities.
"This trip will also be at no cost to the city," said Mgobozi.
"The executive mayor of Tshwane believes that all potential opportunities for trade and investment must be diligently interrogated if we are to fully harness bilateral relationships for the purposes of cultivating the opportunities so many of our people desperately need. Creating opportunities for our people should transcend party politics and be a joint effort to explore any and all opportunities to liberate our people from poverty," he said.