Johannesburg – The Democratic Alliance (DA) has announced that Ryan Smith is the party’s new spokesperson on the International Relations portfolio in Parliament.
The announcement on Monday, 28 July 2025, made by DA Chief Whip George Michalakis came soon after Emma Powel posted on X that she was quitting the position.
The DA said Powel has chosen to resign from her role as spokesperson on International Relations today.
“We thank Emma for her service on this portfolio,” said Michalakis.
“Powell remains a valued member of the DA caucus in Parliament, and we will soon announce her new Portfolio allocation, where she will serve.
“‘Our spokespersons on portfolios lead the party’s efforts in Parliament on those portfolios, and speak for the party in matters affecting those portfolios.”
Michalakis said they are mandated by the party to hold the Executive to account in Committee and in the Legislature, and to land DA policy on the national agenda.
“The DA welcomes our new DA Spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation, Ryan Smith,” said Michalakis.
Powel cited threats, intimidation, harassment, and illegal surveillance as reasons for quitting the DA spokesperson role.
In a statement posted on X, Powell claimed that her outspoken criticism of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation and its ties to authoritarian regimes led to these actions against her.
She suggested that the surveillance was linked to her efforts to defend South Africa’s constitutional values on the international stage.
Her resignation came amid controversy over her international engagements, including a trip to the United States, where she was accused of spreading disinformation about South Africa’s position on the Expropriation Bill, and a covert trip to Israel despite South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Powel has also been in the crosshairs with the Presidency for saying President Cyril Ramaphosa’s envoy to the U.S., Mcebisi Jonas, had been denied a visa.
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Commenting on Powel’s resignation, Brett Herron, GOOD party secretary-general, said: “With her mixed messages and muddying of South Africa’s positions on global relations,” she was “a disaster for South African foreign relations”.
Herron said she travelled to Israel and returned to declare Israel a paragon of human rights.
“Then she travelled in the skirt-tails of AfriForum and Solidarity to the U.S., which trip led to the firing of her colleague Andrew Whitfield as a deputy minister,” the GOOD party secretary-general, said
“Far from advocating for SA’s constitutional values, as she claims, she epitomised her party’s folly of wanting to simultaneously be a member of government and the opposition.
“It is self-evident that in the U.S. she misrepresented South Africa’s domestic transformation agenda and caused damage to our nation and our relationship with the US administration.”
Herron added: “The DA’s dabbling in foreign relations was both technically incorrect and embarrassing for our country”.
