{"id":93013,"date":"2025-11-15T14:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T14:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour"},"modified":"2025-11-15T15:02:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T15:02:39","slug":"south-africa-falling-out-of-favour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour","title":{"rendered":"South Africa falling out of favour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>South Africa, a normally vocal presence in global climate and environment forums, has eroded its influence because of a political fight that led to the firing of its environment minister.<\/p>\n

The country, home to some of the world\u2019s biggest populations of endangered animals, has downgraded its participation in a key international forum that regulates trade in wildlife after Dion George\u2019s dismissal.<\/p>\n

The decision also disrupted its program at the ongoing COP climate summit in Brazil as he was removed while leading the South African delegation to the event.<\/p>\n

The country will only have observer status at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna that starts on 25 November in Uzbekistan, said Narend Singh, the deputy environment minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cDion George did some things we and the cabinet disagreed with,\u201d Singh said on the sidelines of an event in Johannesburg on Friday. While the new minister is taking over the job, the country will curtail its participation at Cites, he said.<\/p>\n

Singh\u2019s participation in the event in Samarkand was canceled after South African President Cyril Ramaphos axed George on 12 November.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Alliance, of which George is a representative, requested his removal as one of its cabinet ministers in the coalition government.<\/p>\n

He has been replaced by the DA\u2019s Willie Aucamp \u2014 a change that has laid bare tensions within the country\u2019s second-biggest political party.<\/p>\n

The South African cabinet on Thursday said the country would only be an observer at COP, but later retracted the statement that Khumbudzo Ntshaveni, a minister in the presidency, said was issued in error. She did say George hadn\u2019t accurately reflected cabinet\u2019s positions.<\/p>\n

Singh said the country\u2019s participation in the COP summit won\u2019t be affected.<\/p>\n

George\u2019s party didn\u2019t specify why it had requested his removal other than to say it needed the best possible people in cabinet and for them to work in a collegial manner.<\/p>\n

George, contacted shortly before his departure from Brazil on Friday, said some people in his own department had fought against his key initiatives, repeatedly changing a memo on initiatives he was preparing for cabinet.<\/p>\n

Those included boosting protection for abalone, an endangered shellfish that\u2019s regularly poached in South Africa. They also pertained to ending captive breeding of lions and maintaining Pretoria\u2019s support for an international ban on trade in ivory and rhino horn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what they are actually talking about,\u201d he said of the allegations that he was at odds with cabinet positions. He also rejected South African media reports alleging that he was fired because he mistreated his staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a slice of cake, I am not for everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. South Africa, a normally vocal presence in global climate and environment forums, has eroded its influence because of a political fight that led to the firing of its environment minister. The country, home to some of the world\u2019s biggest populations of endangered animals, has downgraded its participation in a key international forum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-93013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSouth Africa falling out of favour - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Africa, a normally vocal presence in global climate and environment forums, has eroded its influence because of a ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Africa falling out of favour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Africa, a normally vocal presence in global climate and environment forums, has eroded its influence because of a ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-15T14:33:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-15T15:02:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763206273.425291.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"South Africa falling out of favour\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-15T14:33:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-15T15:02:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour\"},\"wordCount\":471,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763206273.425291.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-falling-out-of-favour\",\"name\":\"South Africa falling out of favour - 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