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STATEMENT ON REQUEST BY THE DA TO FORM PART OF THE GOVERNMENT DELEGATION TO THE WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM (WCAR)
The Preparatory Committee for the World Conference Against Racism has been informed of, and reflected on, the request by the Democratic Alliance to be included in the official Government delegation to the Conference, which will take place from the 31 August to 7 September.
The Committee wishes to place on record the fact that delegations to the WCAR are not constituted as party political delegations; and that all governments taking part will send their envoys as representatives of their countries. The same applies to our own country, with a government elected as the legitimate representative of the South African people.
As the public may know, the WCAR will be proceeded on 28 August - 01 September by a Conference of Non-governmental Organisations, in which political parties as such, are welcome and indeed encouraged to take part. We therefore urge the DA to take full advantage of this opportunity.
Further, the Preparatory Committee has received a request from the Speaker of the National Assembly for a team of legislators to form part of the official government delegation to the main Conference. This matter is still being considered. If it is agreed to include legislators in the government delegation, the matter of the quota of representatives from the various components of Parliament will be left to the Presiding Officers and institutions of our legislature to decide.
Contact: Ronnie Mamoepa at 082 990 4853
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs, 1 August 2001