Russian tensions expose cracks in South Africa’s unity government

South Africa’s grand coalition government, which surprised skeptics by holding together, is trying to contain the foreign policy deadlock between its two largest parties.

Over the past week, clashes over three of the most contentious foreign policy issues – Russia, China and Israel – have exposed deep ideological rifts between the African National Congress and the United Nations. Democratic Alliance, while increasing concerns that 10-party coalition may not last the entire 5-year term.

Speaking at the Brics summit in Kazan, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is a “valuable ally” and “valuable friend” of South Africa.

This sparked an angry reaction from John Steenhuisen, DA leader and minister of agriculture in Ramaphosa’s cabinet, who said Putin may be Ramaphosa’s friend but “his dictatorship, is currently violate international law by waging an imperialist war of aggression against a country.” sovereign nation”, is no friend of South Africa.

Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa’s spokesman, said Steenhuisen was trying to “micromanage the president”, whose allegiance to Moscow dates back to the apartheid era when Soviet Russia provided training and weapons for the ANC.

This inconsistent foreign policy – the government refused to condemn Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine on the basis that the country was “non-aligned”, but this year it brought a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice regarding the invasion of Gaza. — has opened the country to claims of double standards.

Greg Mills, an analyst at the Brenthurst Foundation think tank, told the Financial Times: “South Africa has never let fairness get in the way of foreign policy or human rights in its dealings with any dictatorship. ”.

Mills said that at this week’s Brics forum, Ramaphosa singled out the conflict in Gaza but did not mention Ukraine, for example.

“South Africa has not lived up to its democratic strength or the spirit of our negotiated transition but is instead a revolutionary myth,” he said.

Emma Powell, the DA’s spokesperson for international relations, said that “if Ramaphosa wants to be friends with an imperialist warmonger like Putin, that’s on him”.

“But the problem is that the cabinet needs to find consensus on these issues. Where there are ideological differences within the unity government, this issue needs to be reconciled and a form of reconciliation found so that we can be consistent in our non-alignment policy,” she said .

While Powell said it would be “foolish” to quit the government over this foreign policy disagreement, she said Ramaphosa did not appreciate that his party had lost its outright majority. The ANC was forced to form a coalition after its vote share fell to just 40.2% in the May election.

“Ramaphosa no longer has the autonomy to make policy statements on behalf of government without the consent of his partners,” she said.

The controversy added to the standoff a few days ago when the government ordered Taiwan to move its de facto embassy from Pretoria, where all embassies are based, to Johannesburg.

According to the DA, the second largest party in South Africa, the move was made out of respect for China, another long-standing ally of the ANC. The government’s international relations department argues that locating trade offices in the country’s economic hub of Johannesburg is “standard diplomatic practice”.

Adam Habib, director of Soas University in London, said foreign policy disputes will increase tensions between the parties, even if they do not break up the alliance.

“Everyone knows there are serious differences between the parties involved in this government,” he told the FT. “But the problem is that there are important elements within the ANC who are intent on dividing this alliance. And if this group becomes dominant, they will use these ideological differences as an excuse to divide the group.”

A row over Israel also emerged again this week, when parliament was informed that International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola would press ahead with plans to cut all diplomatic ties with Israel “before the end of the year”.

A year ago, parliament passed a resolution to sever diplomatic relations, including permanently closing the embassy in Tel Aviv. The DA opposes this resolution.

Asked about the “reluctant” closure of the embassy this month, Ramaphosa told Parliament that “we are also looking at the various broader issues surrounding it. Our support for the Palestinian cause is unwavering.”

Israel has been a flashpoint between the parties in the past, with the DA questioning the ANC government’s decision to refer the genocide case to the international court of justice, arguing that this had compromised its role as a center of justice. their reconciliation.

Powell said that while the DA opposes the ANC’s desire to cut diplomatic ties with Israel, the two sides are not too far apart on the broader issue.

“The DA has called for a ceasefire in Gaza, the restoration of the 1967 borders, and condemned Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank. Our difference is that we consider Hamas a terrorist organization and believe in Israel’s right to self-defense,” she said.

She said the downgraded Tel Aviv embassy would likely remain open, if only for practical reasons of needing to serve the region. “These are just dog whistles to appease a certain section of the ANC’s electorate,” she said.

Habib believes that maintaining a unity government requires skillful political intervention.

“It is absolutely possible to build a nuanced collective foreign policy for this government and not make this a zero-sum outcome on all of these issues,” he said.