The Democratic Alliance (DA) recently conducted a week-long visit to the United States to address diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the US with the administration of Donald Trump.

Emma Powell, the spokesperson for the DA's foreign affairs is conducting damage control after criticism from the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola.

Powell said that as representatives of the South African state, the political party will not align its foreign policy to another nation's.

"Our objective is to act in our nation's interest. What we wanted to do was to find out from key legislative and policy makers in the US what they would consider a pathway towards the stabilisation of relations. We as the DA in the Government of National Unity (GNU) have been clear in terms of what our foreign policy looks like," Powell told the SABC.

She described the policy as having encompassing constitutionalism, human rights, solidarity, and peace building. "We had no intention of aligning South Africa's policy agenda with that of the US of any other nation."

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In the aftermath of Trump withholding aid to South Africa owing to disinformation about the Expropriation Act, Lamola remarked that the DA's travel to the US represents a nation that is not aligned with furthering national interests.

"The DA is not a state actor so it's not accurate that they present the government...The Constitution is very clear on where foreign policy resides. It's within the remit of the executive. It is not within the remits of Parliamentarians or opposition parties," said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) spokesperson Chrispin Phiri.

He added that only the executive which is represented by the foreign minister and president can be assigned the task.

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