Winning the foreign policy battle begins at home

DOES SA have a foreign policy? And is SA’s African agenda Africa’s agenda? There is no prize for guessing that these questions arise because our government is eating humble pie after the Economic Community of Central African States asked us to withdraw from the Central African Republic (CAR).

The request, or demand, came hot on the heels of a foreign policy shouting match between the government, on the one side, and the media, commentators and opposition parties on the other, after the deaths of 13 South African soldiers in a battle against rebels who are now part of the transitional government in the CAR. The fact that the minister of defence and President Jacob Zuma chose to shout at us, instead of providing a clear explanation for the presence of South African soldiers in the CAR, is yet another indication that our leaders do not believe ordinary citizens should concern themselves with foreign policy decisions. Therefore, there are two sides to the CAR foreign policy shouting match. The first problem is that of a government that does not seem to appreciate the fact that democracy is not a monastery. It is not a quiet place. It is more like a rock or hip-hop concert and governments are not at liberty to listen only to their choice of democratic noise. Instead of talking down to citizens, our government must improve its public diplomacy. On the side of citizens, there must be an acceptance that nowhere in the world do citizens know everything about matters of the state. The problem is that, as a consequence, the national interest and national security can be defined genuinely, euphemistically or cynically by politicians. I suspect that the fight over the presence of our soldiers in the CAR can be explained in terms of growing mistrust between citizens and the Zuma administration. While the issue at hand is a foreign policy matter, the possibility is that the chances of finding a cure for the trust deficit will depend more on what the government does at home and much less on its foreign policy choices.

Zuma will find that the citizens are less mistrusting on foreign policy if they can trust him on domestic policy.

That said, the biggest challenge on the foreign policy front facing a government that is led by people who fought against a racist apartheid system that was declared a crime against humanity by the international community is that of the expectation of the same international community that it will prosecute its foreign policy in accordance with the values and principles that underpinned the liberation struggle.

The problem is, therefore, embedded in the nature of foreign policy itself. Foreign policy is almost always about mediating and navigating the tension between values and interests. Our foreign policy values are unambiguous. SAis committed to democracy, human rights, social and economic justice, world peace and human development. We are also committed to the African agenda, which was bequeathed to our constitutional democracy by the founding fathers of the African National Congress.

The biggest challenge in this regard is for SA to pursue an African agenda that is shared by most on the continent. In part, this agenda must transcend the gap or tension between Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Also, it must be based on the recognition that the bond between former colonisers and those who were colonised is sometimes stronger than the relationship between African countries that were colonised by Europeans. It is in this context that we must understand some of our failures in Africa and the strategic competition that has developed between SA and France. It is for this reason that I suspect that French troops are not going to be under the kind of pressure facing us to withdraw from the CAR.

Another challenge facing the Zuma administration relates to its ability to balance South African interests that are located in a multiplicity of multilateral sites, including the African Union, and bilateral contexts with countries whose interests may be in conflict with ours.

All our government must do is to demonstrate an understanding of foreign policy.

Matshiqi is a research fellow at the Helen Suzman Foundation.