Georges Chikoti, the secretary general of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), has said South Africa has a legitimate reason to leave the organisation considering the size of the country’s economy.
However, Chikoti said no matter the size of a country, it still needs the solidarity of other, smaller countries.
South Africa left the OACPS in early October this year.
But, speaking with Nana Yaa Mensah on Sunday Night on Asaase 99.5 in Accra, the secretary general of the OACPS said, “South Africa has a legitimate reason to leave. I believe that the size of the South African economy, the interest that South Africa wants to take up, may have come to a stage where she feels that she may not need the solidarity of smaller countries.
“But we believe that one of the major strengths of the OACPS is solidarity.”
South-South strengths
Chikoti said, “We have been able to build such a strong solidarity at the OACPS level to defend the smallest country … I think that no one should see a world [in which a big country] does not need a small one [country] and I do not believe that it is the way of thinking of South Africa …
“Authorities of South Africa have assured me that they believe in South-South solidarity.”
South Africa argues that it prefers to concentrate its efforts to further its case on the international stage through vectors such as the African Union, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the BRICS.
The OACPS (formerly known as the ACP) is an intergovernmental association made up of 78 countries, 48 of them in sub-Saharan Africa, 16 in the Caribbean and 14 from the Pacific.
There was one additional member until recently: South Africa left the OACPS in early October, effective from the previous month. But the Maldives have applied to join, making membership of the organisation 79 again.
Georges Chikoti speaking on “Sunday Night” about South Africa and the OACPS:
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