As global tensions rise, SA should refrain from picking sides
There is a new sheriff in town at the department of international relations & co-operation (Dirco) after Ronald Lamola’s appointment as South Africa’s top diplomat when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his cabinet on June 30.
This development caught many by surprise, as the portfolio is usually reserved for senior ANC figures. In the post-apartheid era, foreign affairs has been entrusted to such esteemed party figures as Alfred Nzo, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Lindiwe Sisulu and, most recently, Naledi Pandor. All were anti-apartheid stalwarts with a firm grasp on the party’s history and ideology.
Ronald Lamola was just 10 years old in 1994, when the ANC government came to power.
Though his history in the ANC is not as illustrious as that of his predecessors in his new department, he rose through the party’s ranks and served as the ANC Youth League’s deputy president before the wing was disbanded in 2012. In 2017, he became the youngest member of the ANC’s national executive committee when he was chosen for that body at the party’s elective conference.
After the 2019 elections, President Ramaphosa appointed him minister of justice & constitutional development, in which role he acquitted himself well, earning a reputation for competence and professionalism. These attributes will come in handy as he begins his tenure as minister of international relations.
However, apart from his role in leading South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice earlier this year, he has little experience on the international stage. As he takes over the reins at Dirco, he assumes the formidable task of giving expression to South Africa’s identity and beliefs at a time of unprecedented uncertainty, both at home and abroad.
Domestically, Lamola will have to balance the diverse opinions of the different political groupings that are now part of the government after an inconclusive election outcome in which no party secured an outright majority. To avoid policy incoherence and the embarrassing spectacle of having different parties in the government making contradictory statements on foreign policy issues, Lamola must ensure the content of the government’s foreign policy is reflective of the country’s political landscape. As such, it would be better if foreign policy was designed to serve the core elements of South Africa’s national interest, which include national security and territorial integrity, economic growth, eradication of poverty, and tackling inequality.
The new minister and his team will also be forced to navigate a complex external environment that will result in South Africa’s foreign policy objectives rapidly shifting from time to time. In his recent piece in the Sunday Times, Lamola has already committed himself to pursuing an Afrocentric and pan-African foreign policy that prioritises the African agenda.
A focus on Africa has been a cardinal pillar of South Africa’s foreign policy over the last 30 years. Lamola will have the opportunity to set the tone for the new dispensation’s approach to Africa at the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit set to take place in Harare on August 17.
Sadc is an important region for South Africa, as it absorbs 87% of the country’s exports to Africa, and most of those about 64% are manufactured goods. Dirco will have to work with other portfolios in the economic cluster to push for the implementation of the Sadc regional indicative strategic development plan (RISDP), which seeks to foster more integration in the region through creating regional value chains and building integrative infrastructure to connect the region’s countries. Intra-Sadc trade sits at just 23%, meaning countries in the region trade more with countries outside it than among themselves. Therefore, realising the RISDP objectives should be high on Dirco’s agenda.
In the broader African region, South Africa’s focus should be on regional integration and promoting democracy, peace and security. Africa faces many problems, including the erosion of democracy. There were nine successful coups on the continent in the last four years, leaving seven countries under military rule. There are also wars in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia and Mozambique, to name just a few. South Africa cannot afford to ignore these problems, as it will be difficult for it to call for global governance institutions to be democratised if countries on the continent are not themselves democratic. Hence, norm entrepreneurship specifically, the promotion of democracy and human rights should be part of Pretoria’s engagement in Africa.
Further, it is important for South Africa to use its voice to push for the accelerated implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the initial enthusiasm for which seems to have waned. Africa’s vulnerability to external shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and the economic nationalism of the industrialised countries has made the case for a continental free trade area even stronger. Implementing AfCFTA will create export-market opportunities for South African firms that will help drag the economy out of its long stagnation. But achieving this will require the country to encourage its peers on the continent to fast-track the realisation of the trade agreement.
On a global level, South Africa’s foreign policy should respond to the shifting geopolitical contours characterised by the revival of the Global South, an expanded Brics, and tensions between major powers such as China and Russia, on the one hand, and the US and its Western allies on the other. The Global South through structures such as the G77, Brics Plus, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and the Non-Aligned Movement
is increasingly speaking with one voice on various issues, including the reform of global governance institutions such as the UN Security Council and the International Monetary Fund, as well as resolving the debt, climate-change and Russia-Ukraine war crises.
Moreover, South-South trade now makes up 35% of the global total an increase from just 17% in 2000. This means there are more trade opportunities in the Global South for South Africa. Given that it lacks sufficient military, economic and diplomatic heft, it is important for Pretoria to project its influence through the various multilateral structures to advance the interests of Africa and the broader developing world.
Just like his predecessor, Lamola should insist on the independence and autonomy of South Africa’s foreign policy choices in the midst of rising tensions between world powers. These strains are a function of the ongoing transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world order that will result in the US and its Western allies having to share the global stage with rising powers such as China, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
South Africa should refrain from picking sides and instead pursue strategic and pragmatic relationships with all these countries, with a focus on advancing and defending its national interests and those of Africa.