POLITICIANS FINDING COMMON GROUND
THERE seems to be a growing convergence between South Africa’s main political parties on key foreign policy issues.
While there is no obvious consensus among the ANC, DA and the EFF, there are more similarities than differences on key issues than perhaps at any other time in our post-apartheid history.
This bodes well for South Africa and suggests the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, especially under the current administration, has been effective in communicating the rationale behind South Africa’s current foreign policy.
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has said human rights was at the heart of South Africa’s foreign policy.
Similarly, DA leader Mmusi Maimane has said human rights should guide our foreign policy.
It is clear from the EFF’S positions that it also prioritises a human rightsbased foreign policy.
The AU
The ANC solidly supports the AU’S Agenda 2063, which is a plan to work towards the economic development of the continent, regional integration and free trade through the Continental Free Trade Agreement.
The ANC would like to see the AU fully capacitated to intervene in conflicts on the continent to ensure peace and security. It would also like to see the African peer review mechanism strengthened to improve good governance on the continent.
While the DA has called the AU a toothless and pointless organisation, the party is supportive of much of what the AU is trying to achieve.
In this sense, there does seem to be more convergence than one would expect with the ANC in terms of supporting the AU’S fundamental goals.
The DA supports regional integration, the creation of a free trade area and the development of regional infrastructure. It would also like to see the peer review mechanism strengthened.
One of the main reasons the DA considers the AU ineffective is the perception that it hasn’t dealt decisively with human rights abuses or poor governance in countries like Zimbabwe.
Like the ANC, the EFF supports the AU, the process of regional integration and would like to see greatly enhanced intra-african trade.
However, the EFF would like to see the radical transformation of the AU so that it is strengthened and capacitated to effectively intervene in conflicts on the continent.
The EFF would like to see a fully functioning African Court and it would like the Pan-african Parliament to have legislative powers. The EFF has said in its manifesto that it would fight leaders who wanted to stay in power forever. The EFF believes it is important to have political, social and economic solidarity among African states.
It would seem all three parties would like to see the AU succeed in its stated goals and become more effective.
The International Criminal Court The ANC would like South Africa to withdraw from the ICC – a position held by the Zuma administration.
The ANC believes the ICC has been manipulated by Western powers and is overly focused on human rights abuses in Africa without paying equal attention to such abuses in the rest of the world. The ANC would like to see a strengthening of the AU’S capacity to prosecute human rights abuses on the continent and a fully functioning, effective African Court for human rights.
The EFF does not believe it is in South Africa’s interests to withdraw from the ICC and would rather like to see a fully transformed ICC.
It also does not accept the manipulation of the ICC by the big powers and believes that membership of the ICC should be compulsory for all states and signing the Rome Statute should not be voluntary.
It believes that the ICC should prosecute former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George Bush for their military intervention in Iraq.
The DA believes that the ICC is an important international institution with which to try human rights abuses and crimes against humanity, especially given that Africa currently has no capacity for this. The DA recently wrote to the office of the chief prosecutor of the ICC to refer the issue of human rights in Zimbabwe following recent abuses by the military and police against civilian protesters, and asked the prosecutor to start a preliminary investigation.
There is more divergence between the parties on the ICC, given the ANC position that South Africa should withdraw from the body, but there is consensus on the need to try gross violations of human rights.
BRICS
The ANC is supportive of the partnership of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
It believes BRICS will increase trade and investment between the emerging economies which will directly benefit South Africa.
The ANC is for greater South-south co-operation and development, and believes the BRICS New Development Bank will provide much-needed financing for development, particularly for infrastructure development.
The ANC believes the NDB provides an additional source of financing beyond traditional international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, which often attach conditions to loans.
The EFF is supportive of the BRICS formation as it would like South Africa to build relations with all progressive nations in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The EFF wants to work towards building a world order that is not dominated by the West and it would like to see the end of the global imperialist dominance of the Western powers.
The DA believes the BRICS partnership is useful in promoting trade between the emerging economies and that any investment in South Africa is beneficial as long as it is correctly used and South African maintains high standards of good governance.
The DA is currently uncertain about what benefits the New Development Bank provides for South Africa.
While the DA supports strong relations with the BRICS countries, it also maintains South Africa needs to strengthen ties with traditional partners such as the US and UK, which account for a significant amount of South Africa’s trade. While the DA has acknowledged that China has overtaken the US as South Africa’s largest trading partner by volume, it believes the US is important for South Africa’s future growth and development.
There is therefore consensus among the three main political parties on the utility of the BRICS partnership for South Africa.
Zimbabwe
The ANC strongly favours lifting sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, to provide relief to the country’s economy.
The ANC also favours South Africa providing financial assistance to Zimbabwe to assist with its development within the realms of what South Africa can afford.
The ANC would like South Africa to assist, wherever it may be asked to, in promoting a national dialogue between Zimbabweans.
The ANC has also expressed concern about human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, particularly following the latest repression by the security forces of civilian protesters.
The EFF position on Zimbabwe is similar to that of the ANC, advocating the lifting of sanctions, the need to assist Zimbabwe financially and providing conditional grants to Zimbabwean development programmes.
The EFF has been the most vocal about human rights abuses committed against civilians by the Zimbabwean military and police forces and said the military had no place in dealing with civilian protesters.
The EFF condemned President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s shutdown of the internet.
The EFF has been pushing South Africa to intervene in Zimbabwe and wanted to call for a three-day shutdown in solidarity with the Zimbabwean people. Last year, the EFF warned Zanu-pf against intimidating voters or engaging in vote rigging.
The DA has pushed South Africa to intervene in the situation in Zimbabwe and has referred Zimbabwe’s human rights abuses to the ICC.
The DA would also like to see the UN Human Rights Council investigate human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
The party strongly condemned the human rights abuses committed by the Zimbabwe authorities against its people and the DA leader was intent on carrying out a fact finding mission to Zimbabwe to meet President Mnangagwa, opposition leaders and civil society.
To date, the Zimbabwean authorities have not responded positively to the DA leader’s request.
On Zimbabwe, all three political parties are concerned about the political, social and economic situation on the ground and how it affects South Africa. All advocate measures to ensure a stronger economy so that Zimbabwe can again become an economic powerhouse that would strengthen the SADC.
Venezuela
The ANC is strongly against any attempts at regime change in Venezuela through unconstitutional means, as it would create a more dangerous world order and bring further chaos.
The ANC believes that only Venezuelans can determine their own destiny and that there can only be a political solution to the situation, involving dialogue and negotiation.
While the ANC recognises that there is a humanitarian crisis in the country, it believes the Maduro government is the victim of a concerted regime change agenda orchestrated by certain Western governments and backed by Western media houses.
The EFF strongly supports the government of Nicolas Maduro and believes that the campaign against him is an imperialist one championed by the Western powers.
The EFF leader took a group of youths to Venezuela in 2010 to study Venezuela’s economic model and returned, saying Venezuela was a “successful model of nationalisation”.
At the time Venezuela expropriated businesses and investments, imposed stringent price controls and subsidised the prices of basic commodities.
With the subsequent dramatic fall in oil prices, the government was no longer able to subsidise prices, pay its debt, leading to severe shortages in the country.
On Venezuela, the DA claims that it is not in favour of regime change through unconstitutional means and is only in favour of military intervention when it is authorised by the UN through Chapter VII. The DA believes that the dire economic situation in the country is what happens when a populist regime takes over and implements expropriation without compensation.
Israel-palestine
The ANC believes in a two-state solution along the 1967 borders and has strongly criticised Israel’s continued illegal settlement building in the occupied territories, its apartheid policies and ongoing human rights abuses and repression of the Palestinians.
At its 51st national general conference the ANC called for a downgrade of relations with Israel. The South African embassy in Tel Aviv was downgraded from an embassy to a representative office in a sign of protest.
The EFF does not believe that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine is still possible given the extent of land expropriation by Israel in the occupied territories.
The EFF believes Israel wants to wipe Palestinians off the map. It wants Israel to give the Palestinians back their land and let them exercise their right to self-determination.
The EFF is calling for a boycott of Israeli products and does not believe there should be an Israeli embassy in South Africa or a South African embassy in Israel.
The DA supports a two-state solution along the 1967 borders and advocates peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. It believes downgrading the South African embassy in Israel was a mistake as it is important for South Africa to play a role in conflict resolution there.
The DA says it will not tell South Africans what they can buy. It has said that given its support for the two-state solution, it cannot agree with the continued illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied territories.
The DA’S Maimane condemned Israeli violations against Palestinians.
While there is significant divergence between the political parties on the way to approach the Israeli-palestinian conflict, there is general agreement on the right of the Palestinians to self-determination and a viable independent state.
South Africa is seeing a growing convergence on foreign policy by political parties, writes group foreign editor Shannon Ebrahim