Markle’s spat with royal family highlights UK’s waning power

While the spat between Meghan Markle and the British royal family has focused attention on race and the heritage of colonialism, the reality is that the once-powerful Commonwealth of former British colonies is slowly fizzling out as a player in world affairs.

Its voice has diminished on important world debates – forcing member states to find new homes that boldly represent their interests.

This is the view of South African international relations expert Prof Siphamandla Zondi in an interview with The Citizen.

Zondi, from the University of Johannesburg, said the Commonwealth had become a structure for mere fraternising and interaction between the UK and its former colonies, otherwise it faced an existential crisis due to London’s lack of vision about what to do with it.

The Commonwealth of Nations was founded in 1931 via the Statute of Westminster following the 1926 Imperial Conference.

Its 54 member countries, all former British colonies, are equal and exercise no power over others but base their relationships on a framework of common values and goals.

The Queen Elizabeth ll is the head of the Commonwealth, a symbolic position with no political or executive power over the states.

An African, Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria was the Commonwealth’s first African secretary-general and Patricia Scotland, from Dominica, the first female and current secretary-general.

Zondi said it was used as a sort of platform for continuous exploration of new post-colonial relationships between Britain and its former colonies, providing an international platform for them to engage on global issues.

They discussed matters of development, trade policy and global issues on which they jointly challenged the former empire.

“But over time, other more nimble and less ambiguous organisations have emerged for these states to advance their interests. So the Commonwealth is becoming a structure for mere fraternising and interaction.

“Its voice has diminished, having been on the sidelines on major debates including the Western war on terror, the use of humanitarian concerns to justify invasion of countries, the nuclear-free world and even the digital transformation issues,” Zondi said.

The Commonwealth was still useful for the purpose of friendship, discussions and interactions among the states, but it suffered from London’s lack of vision about its future.

“It is London’s organisation and the UK has no vision further on the road ahead,” Zondi said.

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