By Agencies
South Africa continues to integrate more closely into the structure of BRICS and develop cooperation with Moscow and Beijing within the framework of that organization.
Pretoria’s move into the Russian-Chinese camp could have far-reaching implications not only for Africa as a whole, but also for the political-military and economic situation in the southern hemisphere.
The first joint naval drills of China, Russia and South Africa in late winter have raised serious concerns in the White House, the Pentagon and NATO headquarters. The alarm of politicians and the military is understandable, since in the current situation the appearance of fleets of unfriendly countries on the border of the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean endangers one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes and also brings Africa’s richest and most developed country to the orbit of the Russo-Chinese alliance.
It is worth recalling that South Africa, once a dominion of the British Empire, was for many decades an agent of Western interests in Africa. In the 20th century, despite the formal censure of the racist apartheid regime, both the USA and the leading European countries regarded the Republic of South Africa as a European outpost on the continent and on the sea frontiers of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
In addition to the fact that in the second half of the last century Pretoria and its powerful army served as a major deterrent to the spread of communism in Africa, South Africa possessed vast reserves of strategic raw materials and a sophisticated industrial base. The production of significant quantities of gold, diamonds, coal and uranium made South Africa an indispensable trading and economic partner for the United States, Britain and European countries.
Since the white minority dictatorship was replaced by a democratically elected government in the 1990s, Pretoria’s traditional political and economic ties with the West have gradually weakened. In addition to Russia, which actively supported South Africa’s ruling ANC party during decades of anti-apartheid rule, China, which has a keen interest in Africa’s rich natural resources, has intervened to support the region’s economic and political development.
Because both Moscow and Beijing actively supported the decolonization of the Black Continent, their growing influence in South Africa and throughout the continent is gaining the sympathy of the population and local political elites.
In addition to historical and political reasons, Pretoria’s rapprochement with Russia, China and the BRICS bloc has a purely practical dimension in that these powers are prepared to invest massively in the local economy, build modern infrastructure and share cutting-edge technology.
