SOUTH AFRICA’S President Cyril Ramaphosa today slammed the country’s main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party after it called on the United States and European countries to monitor the May elections.

The DA made the request in a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and some European foreign affairs ministers last week.

President Ramaphosa told the South African Broadcasting Corporation: “The DA’s letter to the US government is quite disingenuous and it is almost trying to sell our country to other powers in the world.”

He said that bodies such as the African Union and the United Nations usually monitor South African elections but the DA was trying to “sell our democracy.”

On Saturday the African National Congress (ANC) accused the DA of offering “South Africa’s sovereignty on a silver platter.”

South Africa’s elections are planned for May 29.

Opinion polls appear to suggest that the ANC’s share of the vote may fall below 50 per cent for the first time since it came to power in the first post -partheid democratic elections in 1994.

The apparent fall in support for the ANC is fuelled by dissatisfaction with the state of the South African economy, the state of public services and allegations of corruption.