SA losing its position as diplomatic and moral leader – experts

South Africa is losing its position as a diplomatic and moral leader, not only globally but also in Africa, experts believe.

The country is now only third in Africa in terms of gross domestic product, after Egypt and Nigeria, and its economic growth rate lags behind many countries on the continent which were once never considered in the same financial league as South Africa.

That decline is also starting to affect South Africa’s pre-eminent global diplomatic position in the Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki years.

Yet, there are those in the diplomatic community in SA who believe the country can still provide leadership for the continent by leading the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to find joint regional solutions to matters, including the insurgency crisis in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.

Former President Jacob Zuma, instead of taking advantage of Mandela’s diplomatic charms and consciously piggy-backing on Mbeki’s African Renaissance, killed South African global influence through state capture and pursuing of low-key diplomacy.

His successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, has done little to rescue the situation.

According to Professor Theo Venter from North-West University, South Africa could have done better in Mozambique and elsewhere, but its politico-diplomatic influence, in addition to economic influence, had been waning.

Political analyst Sanisha Naidusaid South Africa was obliged to address structural issues domestically and on the continent. It also had to ensure that its diplomacy addressed its Africa policy as a whole, “but I don’t think it’s the reductionist binary approach that we tend to see”.

Venter said Zuma paid attention to the African Peer Review Mechanism, but failed to follow Mbeki’s position in terms of the African Renaissance, which was SA’s political power source in Africa.

“African Renaissance disappeared in the Zuma years. The moment you start with an initiative like that and you stop, people don’t take you seriously because you are not there,” Venter said.

Currently, South Africa sat with the consequences of Zuma’s state capture and poor growth in economy, which caused
“everything to go astray”.

“We have actually moved backwards in the past few years and everything has to do with how much money we have in the system,” said Venter.

Naidu was cautious about the positions of Nigeria, Egypt and Rwanda compared to South Africa. She said that while those countries appeared to have better economies, it did not translate into reality on the ground, with their poor infrastructure, poverty and lack of some other life essentials.

– ericn@citizen.co.za