One would think that South Africa’s foreign policy choices favoring Russia, China, and Hamas would jeopardize America’s generous bilateral support.
NATIONAL INTEREST
Sometimes, the answer to the question “Why do people do bad things?” is simply because they can. In the case of South Africa, they can because bad behavior has been richly rewarded with billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid and trade preferences.
Its list of misdeeds is long.
Consider South Africa’s illegal arms supply to Russia. It prompted a rare public U.S. rebuke last year after the U.S. Embassy warned it that a Russian ship docked at one of its military ports. The ship that would transport the arms was under U.S. sanctions. Pretoria’s response? South Africa held a ten-day joint naval exercise with Russia and China on the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Beyond helping project Chinese military power extend into the Indian and Atlantic oceans, South Africa has been the chief cheerleader of BRICS—China’s geopolitical project to “restructure the global political, economic, and financial architecture.” South Africa was a cofounder, lending the “S” to the group’s name alongside Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
South Africa hosted last year’s BRICS annual meeting, co-chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The African country has been duly rewarded for its political fealty with $14 billion in Chinese investments and construction projects. Next year, South Africa will host the G20 summit. It’s a safe bet whose interests Pretoria will favor.
During the BRICS meeting, membership was extended to Iran. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa justified the offer as “a shared vision for a better world.” Iran more aptly described it as “a strategic victory for Iran’s foreign policy.” The invitation came two months before Hamas’ assault on Israel and Iran’s proxy attacks on U.S. military and diplomatic facilities. Yet South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor visited Tehran just two weeks after the slaughter.
South Africa has gained considerable notoriety for taking Israel to international court, accusing it of violating the genocide convention in its war with Hamas in Gaza and labeling Israel’s existence as “a 75-year-long apartheid.” In other words, there is no right to a Jewish state. In a demonstration of global chutzpah, South Africa has worked closely with Palestinian terror fronts to “document” its genocide claims against Israel.
South Africa claims it “has a moral responsibility to always stand with the oppressed because we come from a history of struggle…
