What are we bid for this shining set of principles, barely used?

05 October 2014 - 02:02 By Barney Mthombothi
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Financial Mail editor Barney Mthombothi
Financial Mail editor Barney Mthombothi
Image: Jeremy Glyn

South Africa seems, in a little less than 20 years, to have degenerated from something close to a beacon on the international stage to a corrupt one-party kleptocracy that is making common cause with unsavoury regimes around the world - a mockery of its valued principles.

South Africa's sycophancy towards Russia and China is nothing short of embarrassing. It is demeaning and nauseating. It should stick in the craw, especially for a people supposedly with an aversion to being yoked to foreign powers.

Our membership of Brics was initially hailed as a feather in our cap, but it has in fact emasculated our ability to conduct an independent foreign policy. We have to check with either Moscow or Beijing before making a decision. It's not whether a decision is in our interest or not that seems to matter, but how it will sit with the two behemoths.

The Dalai Lama has become a byword for South Africa's grovelling submission to Chinese diktat. It is also telling that the controversial nuclear agreement with Russia was announced in Moscow by a Russian parastatal. The government has been left to play catch-up, and nobody believes what it says.

The attainment of democracy freed South Africa, for years shunned because of its apartheid policies, to play a more meaningful role in international affairs. We were at last free to celebrate and sell our values to the world.

A middling economy, but we commanded some respect. Punching above our weight became a favoured mantra. The combination of Nelson Mandela's enormous international stature, the worldwide campaign against apartheid that had recruited millions of admirers and the peaceful transition to democracy made for a good story to tell. Everybody seemed keen for us to succeed. The world doted on us. We were a breath of fresh air - quite a turnaround for a country that had been a skunk for most of its existence.

The country also initially seemed keen to live by its principles. South Africa, for instance, refused to sell arms to Turkey, citing Ankara's ill-treatment of its Kurdish population. We squabbled with Morocco over its treatment of the Sahrawi people and with India over Kashmir. Mandela was also unsparing in his criticism of former Nigerian strongman Sani Abacha after the execution of human rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Thabo Mbeki decided to position South Africa as a champion of the interests of Africa and its diaspora. That, more than the country's human rights ethos, became his guiding principle in foreign relations. If South Africa had been true to its principles, for instance, Robert Mugabe would have been history a long time ago.

Unlike Mbeki, Zuma seems driven by a desire to feather his own nest. Which is why the announcement of a nuclear deal with the Russians shortly after his surreptitious visit to Moscow raised such hackles. It has the makings of another corrupt arms deal many times over. The crooks are already salivating.

With an equally naive foreign minister, South Africa has allowed itself to be dragged by the nose by its Brics partners. For instance, three years ago South Africa voted for a UN Security Council resolution enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya. A few months later it turned down a similar resolution on Syria. The difference was that South Africa had in the intervening period become a member of Brics and it was determined to line up behind Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad's chief protector.

Since then Putin has annexed Crimea and manufactured a war in eastern Ukraine that has killed thousands and led to the downing of a civilian plane with the loss of hundreds of innocent lives.

These are the actions of a rogue state. South Africa has not only quietly acquiesced, it now seems prepared to tie up its biggest deal to date with a government that perpetrates such atrocities.

There are those who believe South Africa should repay Russia for its contribution to our struggle. That was an arrangement with an organisation. South Africa's people should not be held in hock to such debts. Besides, it is the communists who supported South Africa, and they are out of favour in Putin's Russia, a lot of them in jail.

Putin never cared about the likes of South Africa until his relationship with the West started souring.

But it is the government's decision on the Dalai Lama that is particularly spineless and insincere.

Government spokesmen have been caught out lying to the public, saying for instance that the Dalai Lama had cancelled his visit - only for China to congratulate South Africa for denying him a visa.

To show how ridiculously stupid South Africa's decision is, the Dalai Lama lives in exile in India, and India, along with China, is a proud member of Brics. Yet, in order to appease China, South Africa won't allow the Dalai Lama to come here even for a day.

People have died for their principles, but we seem eager to sell ours to the highest bidder.

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