Recently South Africa celebrated the 30th anniversary of its first democratic election, which brought Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela to power. “Founding Father” of South Africa postapartheid and high priest of reconciliation, Mandela is revered around the world as a secular saint. But he is also increasingly accused of having exonerated the wealthy white minority for 350 years of crimes from colonial times and the apartheid without getting a adequate compensation for the victims, mostly black.
When South Africans go to the polls on May 29, Mandela’s legacy (and that of his political heirs) will face its toughest test. In the most consequential election since the country became a democracy, the African National Congress (ANC) party, which has governed uninterrupted since Mandela led it to victory in 1994, may end up losing the monopoly of power.
Although South Africa postapartheid has negative coverage in the Western media, in the last three decades the country has made some impressive socioeconomic advances. Some have been built 3.4 million housing unitshe 90% of homes now has electricity, 82% is connected to the water network, and 18.8 million South Africans They receive valuable social assistance. Of course, it’s not all good news: unemployment has risen by 32%and 18.2 million people They still live in extreme poverty.
Until last year, South Africa was the only African member of the BRICS and the G-20. And it remains the only African country that integrates a strategic alliance with the European Union
Until last year, South Africa was the only African member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the G-20. And it remains the only African country that is part of a strategic alliance with the European Union. Furthermore, he recently reaffirmed his place on the global stage by accusing Israel before the International Court of Justice of violating the Genocide Convention. This bold action is in line with the values of the ANC, proud of its record of supporting self-determination and solidarity with other liberation movements.
Mandela left many Westerners perplexed by his decision to maintain close ties with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Libya’s Muammar el-Qaddafi, all of whom were strong supporters of South Africa’s fight against terrorism. apartheid. And as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in the periods 2007-2008, 2011-2012 and 2019-2020, South Africa advocated the self-determination of the peoples of Palestine and Western Sahara.
After becoming president, Mandela’s ideas for promoting human rights and democracy did not survive the first contact with reality.
But after he became president, Mandela’s ideas for the promotion of human rights and democracy did not survive the first contact with reality. In 1995, when the Nigerian military junta of General Sani Abacha executed environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his companions by hanging, Mandela called for an oil boycott and the expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth. In its attempt to isolate Nigeria, it was South Africa that ended up isolated, because African countries accused Mandela’s Government of being a Trojan horse for the West and weakening continental solidarity.
Mandela’s second, Thabo Mbekireversed course before taking power in 1999. Mbeki envisioned an “African renaissance,” with social welfare programs in South Africa and a strategic relationship with then-president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, to create the basal institutions of the African Union. He also sent peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, and became involved in peacemaking efforts in Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast.
Mbeki and Obasanjo asked the G-8 many times to cancel Africa’s external debt and provide funds for the continent’s socioeconomic transformation, but they failed to do so. Mbeki also sought a democratization of global governance institutions such as the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. In addition, he defended the interests of the global south, helping to create in 2003 the IBSA Dialogue Forum, formed by India, Brazil and South Africa.
During the presidency of Jacob Zuma (elected in 2009), South Africa gained entry to the BRIC club. Zuma pursued a mercantilist trade policy to position the country as a “gateway to Africa,” as South African corporate giants—dominated by white people—in sectors from communications and mining to supermarkets and fast-food chains expanded. across the continent. However, during his term there was a hollowing out of state institutions, and his government was accused of widespread corruption.
The current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office in 2018, became entangled in protracted intra-party disputes and is accused of not providing a sufficiently decisive response to corruption. He has also struggled to revitalize neglected and mismanaged state institutions like the electric utility. Eskomwhose collapse led to having to implement rotating cuts.
But despite these internal problems, South Africa continues to court foreign investors in a bid to turn the country into an attractive emerging market. Ramaphosa’s foreign policy has scored some triumphs: as AU president in 2020, he pushed for equal access to Covid-19 vaccines and accused rich countries of practicing “apartheid vaccination”; and last year, as BRICS president, he oversaw the group’s expansion. Additionally, South Africa participates in peace missions in Congo and Mozambique.
It is evident that successive ANC presidents have squandered their party’s political capital by failing to curb rising corruption or ensure adequate provision of public services. Support for the ANC is in all-time lows, and it is possible that in the next election he will receive less than 50% of the votes and will have to form a coalition government. But South Africa’s foreign policy remains very popular among its black majority, although a very active, mostly white minority seems nostalgic for the country’s closeness to the West in times of the Cold War.
It is true that Mandela’s heirs have at times been diplomatically clumsy, as when they appeared to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which angered the United States and the EU. But there are many good reasons for South Africa to maintain good ties with its BRICS allies and other countries in the Global South, as well as a reasonable relationship with its traditional Western partners. Some of them are its leadership role in a continent of growing strategic importance, its strong support for self-determination in the developing world and the fact that China is its main bilateral trading partner. Whatever the outcome of the election, non-alignment will remain crucial as it is the best way to achieve economic prosperity and retain influence in international affairs.
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