Successive South African presidents from the African National Congress, the party that Nelson Mandela led to victory in 1994, have failed to curb rampant corruption and deliver public services. But even if the ANC loses its majority in the upcoming election, the country must continue taking a non-aligned approach to foreign policy.

PRETORIA – South Africa recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its first democratic election, which brought to power Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela. Post-apartheid South Africa’s “founding father” and high priest of reconciliation, Mandela is revered globally as a secular saint. But today, he is increasingly accused of letting the wealthy white minority off the hook for 350 years of colonial and apartheid crimes, without securing adequate reparations for their overwhelmingly Black victims.

When South Africans head to the polls on May 29, Mandela’s legacy – and that of his political heirs – will face its greatest test yet. In the most consequential election since the country became a democracy, the African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled uninterrupted since Mandela led it to victory in 1994, may finally lose its monopoly on power.

Notwithstanding negative Western media coverage of post-apartheid South Africa, the country has made some impressive socioeconomic progress over the past three decades. Some 3.4 million housing units have been built, 90% of households are now electrified, 82% have piped water, and 18.8 million South Africans receive valuable social grants. (It is not all good news, of course: unemployment has risen to 32%, while 18.2 million people still live in extreme poverty.)

Until last year, South Africa was the only African member of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and the G20. And it continues to be the only African country with a strategic partnership with the European Union.

Moreover, South Africa recently asserted itself on the world stage by accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in a case at the International Court of Justice. This bold move aligns with the values of the ANC, which has a proud history of supporting self-determination and showing solidarity with fellow liberation movements.

Mandela confounded many Westerners by maintaining close ties with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, all of whom strongly backed South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. And as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2007-08, 2011-12, and 2019-20, South Africa advocated self-determination for the people of Palestine and Western Sahara.

But after becoming president, Mandela’s vision for promoting human rights and democracy did not survive first contact with reality. In 1995, when the Nigerian military junta of General Sani Abacha hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental campaigner, and eight fellow activists, Mandela called for an oil boycott and Nigeria’s expulsion from the Commonwealth. Seeking to isolate Nigeria, South Africa instead found itself isolated, as African countries accused Mandela’s government of being a Trojan horse for the West and undermining solidarity on the continent.

Mandela’s deputy, Thabo Mbeki, subsequently reversed course before assuming power in 1999. Mbeki envisioned an “African renaissance,” which entailed creating social-welfare programs at home and establishing a strategic relationship with then-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to build the institutions underpinning the African Union. Mbeki also sent peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, and was involved in peacemaking efforts in Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire.

Mbeki and Obasanjo consistently lobbied the G8 to cancel Africa’s external debt and provide funding for the continent’s socioeconomic transformation, to no avail. Mbeki also sought to democratize global governance institutions such as the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization. Moreover, he championed the interests of the Global South by helping to establish the IBSA Dialogue Forum, comprising India, Brazil, and South Africa, in 2003.

During the presidency of Jacob Zuma, who was elected in 2009, South Africa gained entry to the BRIC club. Zuma pursued a mercantilist trade policy that sought to position the country as the “gateway to Africa,” even as its white-dominated corporate giants in sectors ranging from communications and mining to supermarkets and fast-food chains spread their reach across the continent. However, state institutions were hollowed out over the course of Zuma’s tenure, and his administration was accused of widespread graft.

Current President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office in 2018, has become embroiled in protracted intra-party squabbles and is widely viewed as taking a half-hearted approach to tackling corruption. He has also struggled to revive neglected and mismanaged state institutions such as Eskom, the electricity utility whose collapse has led to rolling blackouts.

Despite these domestic challenges, South Africa has continued to court foreign investors, seeking to make the country an attractive emerging market. Ramaphosa’s foreign policy has scored some successes: as chairperson of the AU in 2020, he pressed for equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, accusing the rich world of “vaccine apartheid,” and, as BRICS chair last year, oversaw the group’s expansion. South Africa also contributes to peacekeeping efforts in the Congo and Mozambique.

It is clear that successive ANC presidents have squandered their party’s political capital by failing to curb rampant corruption and deliver public services. Support for the ANC has fallen to record lows, which suggests that it could receive less than 50% of the vote in the upcoming election and be forced to form a coalition government.

But South Africa’s foreign policy remains broadly popular among its Black majority, despite a vocal, largely white, minority that seems nostalgic for the country’s Cold War-era coziness with the West. To be sure, Mandela’s heirs have at times been diplomatically clumsy – appearing to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for example, which angered the United States and the EU.

There are many good reasons, however, for South Africa to maintain good ties with its BRICS allies and other Global South countries, as well as sound relations with its traditional Western partners. These include its leadership role on a continent that is growing in strategic importance, its steadfast support of self-determination in the developing world, and the fact that China is its largest bilateral trading partner. Pursuing a non-aligned stance will remain crucial regardless of the election’s outcome, as it offers the best path to economic prosperity and continued influence in global affairs.

Adekeye Adebajo