In an exclusive interview with WION, the minister of international relations and cooperation of South Africa, Naledi Pandor hails India's contribution and engagement with the African continent, especially during Covid-19 pandemic by providing vaccines. She hoped more Indian pharmaceutical companies set up shop in South Africa and help them produce vaccines as well.

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South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has expressed her belief that India's leadership in the G20 is an opportunity for developing countries to set their issues on the world stage.

South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor sees India's G20 leadership as opportunity for Global South

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to escalate, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has called for peaceful negotiations to resolve the conflict. Drawing upon South Africa's own history of overcoming apartheid through negotiation, Pandor emphasized the importance of diplomacy and the role of the United Nations in promoting peace.

South Africa's Foreign Minister speaks to WION on India ties, Russia Ukraine conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was welcomed by his South African counterpart for talks in Pretoria on Monday. South Africa has refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and resisted taking sides over the war.

WION Dispatch: Russian FM Sergey Lavrov meets South African counterpart Naledi Pandor in Pretoria

Even as large-scale violence impacts South Africa, New Delhi has raised the matter with the government, especially when it comes to the Indian diaspora.

India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam&nbsp;Jaishankar&nbsp;spoke to South African foreign minister&nbsp;Dr. Naledi Pandor while Sanjay Bhattacharya, Secretary, MEA&nbsp; also met the South African high commissioner to India Joel Sibusiso Ndebele.

On Indians and Indian-origin South Africans being attacked, the South African side "conveyed that opportunistic elements were taking advantage of the situation to engage in looting and violence", sources said. This is something that has been talked about by President Ramaphosa during his address to the nation on July 12.

The South African side sees the current attacks on the diaspora as "criminal in nature and not political or racially motivated."

The violence erupted after the imprisonment of former&nbsp;President Jacob Zuma and so far more than 70 people have died.&nbsp;KwaZulu natal started in Zuma's home province and then spread in several parts of the country.&nbsp;

During the talks, the South African side assured that Government&nbsp;was "doing its utmost to enforce law and order" and "asserted that early restoration of normalcy and peace was its overriding priority" even as "they expected the situation to improve soon", sources said pointed out.

Amit Shivaji More, President, Indian Association of South Africa said, "situation is really bad in KwaZulu natal and Durban."

Indian consulate&nbsp;in Durban is assisting&nbsp;all the people. Consulate is also engaging with law enforcement for the safety of Indians.

Gurmeet Singh, an Indian businessman in South Africa told WION, "My three shops, one warehouse has been looted. we are suffering. I'm very sick, can't even speak. we are staying without food. please help us"

HK Modi, another businessman in the country said, "last two&nbsp;days have been the most turbulent days of my experience in Durban. The kind of rampant looting, vandalism and absolute lawlessness, and anarchy&nbsp;that has been going around."

Asha Thakur, a second-generation&nbsp;born in South Africa said, "protests have escalated at an unmanageable level. looting and violence are the norms. Indian business in Durban and Pietermaritzburg have been looted."

The protests are expected to impact the economy of the country. According to estimates, 129, 000 jobs are at risk due to&nbsp;ongoing unrest.

Even as large-scale violence impacts South Africa, New Delhi has raised the matter with the government, especially when it comes to the Indian diaspora. India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke to South African foreign minister Dr.

Even as large-scale violence impacts South Africa, New Delhi has raised the matter with the government, especially when it comes to the Indian diaspora. India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke to South African foreign minister Dr. Naledi Pandor while Sanjay Bhattacharya, Secretary, MEA also met the South African high commissioner to India Joel Sibusiso Ndebele. On Indians and Indian-origin South Africans being attacked, the South African side "conveyed that opportunistic elements were taking advantage of the situation to engage in looting and violence", sources said. This is something that has been talked about by President Ramaphosa during his address to the nation on July 12. The South African side sees the current attacks on the diaspora as "criminal in nature and not political or racially motivated." The violence erupted after the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma and so far more than 70 people have died. KwaZulu natal started in Zuma's home province and then spread in several parts of the country. During the talks, the South African side assured that Government was "doing its utmost to enforce law and order" and "asserted that early restoration of normalcy and peace was its overriding priority" even as "they expected the situation to improve soon", sources said pointed out. Amit Shivaji More, President, Indian Association of South Africa said, "situation is really bad in KwaZulu natal and Durban." Indian consulate in Durban is assisting all the people. Consulate is also engaging with law enforcement for the safety of Indians. Gurmeet Singh, an Indian businessman in South Africa told WION, "My three shops, one warehouse has been looted. we are suffering. I'm very sick, can't even speak. we are staying without food. please help us" HK Modi, another businessman in the country said, "last two days have been the most turbulent days of my experience in Durban. The kind of rampant looting, vandalism and absolute lawlessness, and anarchy that has been going around." Asha Thakur, a second-generation born in South Africa said, "protests have escalated at an unmanageable level. looting and violence are the norms. Indian business in Durban and Pietermaritzburg have been looted." The protests are expected to impact the economy of the country. According to estimates, 129, 000 jobs are at risk due to ongoing unrest.

Jaishankar talks to foreign minister Pandor as violence in South Africa escalates

South Africa has lauded India's role in climate solutions and said the relationship between the two countries is strengthening. Speaking to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal in New York,&nbsp;South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that&nbsp;India is&nbsp;certainly beginning to lead the way in key solutions to world problems. He also called Mahatma Gandhi&nbsp;a South African hero.

Below is the full transcript of the conversation

WION: What is the status of the ties between India and South Africa?

Naledi Pandor: The ties are extremely strong. India and South Africa are old friends, we have a lot&nbsp;of South Africans whose families originated in India. Their&nbsp;roots are still in India.

India also supported South Africa in the struggle for freedom. India has been a good friend of South Africa during the freedom [struggle], we continued to be partners in BRICS family and the relations are strengthening every year.&nbsp;

Watch:&nbsp;WION exclusively speaks to South Africa's foreign Minister Naledi Pandor

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WION:&nbsp;India is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. How do you&nbsp;see it?

Naledi Pandor:&nbsp;I think&nbsp;that it is very important for countries to&nbsp;commemorate leaders who have founded our democracies but who have also made an important contribution to the&nbsp;world political philosophy. Mahatma Gandhi, with his wonderful attention to non-violent&nbsp;struggle&nbsp;made a deep impression on our leaders like Nelson Mandela and in fact was a precursor to the concept of mass mobilisation which influenced much of the struggle for freedom in South Africa. So Mahatma&nbsp;stands for us as a great example and is&nbsp;remembered in South Africa as a hero of South Africa as much as he is considered a Mahatma in India.

&nbsp;

WION: India has been focusing on providing a solution to the climate change issue... how do you see India's role?

Naledi Pandor:&nbsp;Well, I think that India is&nbsp;certainly beginning to lead the way in showing what some solutions are and the speech that was made by <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/at-unga-today-pm-modi-to-lead-from-the-front-252332">Prime Minister Modi</a> during the&nbsp;Climate Change Summit in the UN was a very important speech where he reported on the steps being taken by the government of India in order to address what is a massive global challenge. Solar energy, renewable sources of energy of all kinds, are very important. We are using solar,&nbsp;renewable, as wells as biomass as new sources of energy and of course India is renowned in advances in innovation, so we look forward to our collaboration with India to build even more solutions to climate change challenges that confront us. India has agriculture as one of the core basis of its economy, and similarly, South Africa relies on agriculture. We have to look at land recovery, new technology and&nbsp;at how to best use our water resources in order to respond to the challenges of climate change.&nbsp;

WION: You met with BRICS foreign ministers. What was the focus?

Naledi Pandor:&nbsp;Well, I think that BRICS is an extremely important grouping because&nbsp;it holds up the values of cooperation and of multilateralism. For me, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/brics-pushes-for-early-adoption-of-comprehensive-convention-on-international-terrorism-252288">BRICS</a> is a progressive global forum of countries that have among the largest populations in the region and that play a very important role both in regional affairs as well as world affairs. I believe the work that is being done in BRICS&nbsp;is going to&nbsp;illustrate to the world the value of partnership and collaboration. Our deliberations as foreign ministers&nbsp;went very well today. We got a report from Brazil, which is the current BRICS chair and we will have the summit in November. We also got the&nbsp;indication from Russia, who will assume the chair in 2020 as to what their&nbsp;plans and thinking are for their year of chairing the BRICS family.

WION:&nbsp; What is your view on the Indo-Pacific concept?

Naledi Pandor:&nbsp;&nbsp;We are members of IORA which is the Indian Ocean Rim Association. South Africa has been playing the leadership role there, this brings many nations together and I think that whatever we do with the oceans, we need to understand that we are drawing together many nations because I think oceans are a shared resource and they don't&nbsp;belong to a particular country.&nbsp;Therefore, whatever we do, any alliance that we build&nbsp;must understand these needs to be inclusive alliances who are all surrounded by the ocean benefit from it.

South Africa has lauded India's role in climate solutions and said the relationship between the two countries is strengthening. Speaking to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal in New York, South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that India is certainly beginning to lead the way in key solutions to world problems.

South Africa has lauded India's role in climate solutions and said the relationship between the two countries is strengthening. Speaking to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal in New York, South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that India is certainly beginning to lead the way in key solutions to world problems. He also called Mahatma Gandhi a South African hero. Below is the full transcript of the conversation WION: What is the status of the ties between India and South Africa? Naledi Pandor: The ties are extremely strong. India and South Africa are old friends, we have a lot of South Africans whose families originated in India. Their roots are still in India. India also supported South Africa in the struggle for freedom. India has been a good friend of South Africa during the freedom [struggle], we continued to be partners in BRICS family and the relations are strengthening every year. Watch: WION exclusively speaks to South Africa's foreign Minister Naledi Pandor WION: India is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. How do you see it? Naledi Pandor: I think that it is very important for countries to commemorate leaders who have founded our democracies but who have also made an important contribution to the world political philosophy. Mahatma Gandhi, with his wonderful attention to non-violent struggle made a deep impression on our leaders like Nelson Mandela and in fact was a precursor to the concept of mass mobilisation which influenced much of the struggle for freedom in South Africa. So Mahatma stands for us as a great example and is remembered in South Africa as a hero of South Africa as much as he is considered a Mahatma in India. WION: India has been focusing on providing a solution to the climate change issue... how do you see India's role? Naledi Pandor: Well, I think that India is certainly beginning to lead the way in showing what some solutions are and the speech that was made by Prime Minister Modi during the Climate Change Summit in the UN was a very important speech where he reported on the steps being taken by the government of India in order to address what is a massive global challenge. Solar energy, renewable sources of energy of all kinds, are very important. We are using solar, renewable, as wells as biomass as new sources of energy and of course India is renowned in advances in innovation, so we look forward to our collaboration with India to build even more solutions to climate change challenges that confront us. India has agriculture as one of the core basis of its economy, and similarly, South Africa relies on agriculture. We have to look at land recovery, new technology and at how to best use our water resources in order to respond to the challenges of climate change. WION: You met with BRICS foreign ministers. What was the focus? Naledi Pandor: Well, I think that BRICS is an extremely important grouping because it holds up the values of cooperation and of multilateralism. For me, BRICS is a progressive global forum of countries that have among the largest populations in the region and that play a very important role both in regional affairs as well as world affairs. I believe the work that is being done in BRICS is going to illustrate to the world the value of partnership and collaboration. Our deliberations as foreign ministers went very well today. We got a report from Brazil, which is the current BRICS chair and we will have the summit in November. We also got the indication from Russia, who will assume the chair in 2020 as to what their plans and thinking are for their year of chairing the BRICS family. WION: What is your view on the Indo-Pacific concept? Naledi Pandor: We are members of IORA which is the Indian Ocean Rim Association. South Africa has been playing the leadership role there, this brings many nations together and I think that whatever we do with the oceans, we need to understand that we are drawing together many nations because I think oceans are a shared resource and they don't belong to a particular country. Therefore, whatever we do, any alliance that we build must understand these needs to be inclusive alliances who are all surrounded by the ocean benefit from it.

'India showing way on climate change', says South African Foreign Minister; calls Gandhi a hero

WION exclusively speaks to South Africa's foreign Minister Naledi Pandor. Watch video to know more.

WION exclusively speaks to South Africa's foreign Minister Naledi Pandor

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