By Ronald Lamola, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
Those who have had the opportunity to carefully study South Africa’s road to democracy would most likely agree with the assertion that our democracy is a special product of intangible solidarity.
It is almost as if all the nations of the world from Africa, to anti-apartheid movements which threaded Europe right across Asia and right across the Atlantic Ocean to countries like Cuba, heeded the profound words of wisdom by liberation stalwart and President of the African National Congress, Oliver Tambo, “We, who are free to eat and sleep at will, to write, to speak, to travel as we please; we, who are free to make or break revolution, let us use our comparative freedom, not to perpetuate the misery of those who suffer, nor give indirect aid to the enemy they fight by withholding our own contribution”.
This year marks 32 years since we chose a path of democracy over segregation. Our Constitution, which has been in effect for 30 years has been a remarkable tool which has enabled our country to evolve, political, socially, and economically.
Of course, it is quite evident that we are still grappling with a system of structural inequality embedded into the fabric of our nation over a period
350 years and what becomes the most democratic way to address it.
Our foreign policy is not divorced from this endeavour. In fact, it is instrumental. Building a better Africa cannot be divorced from our national interest. Neither can the quest to build a better world.
But as the saying goes,” charity begins at home” this is a truism. It is not a case for us to be myopic in our interests.
The question of whether democracy has failed is an incorrect question
Since 1994, there have been undeniable gains which our democracy has delivered – expanded access to housing, education and healthcare; we are a diverse society along the lines of culture and linguistics. This is not necessarily reflective of our economy. Racial inequality is still vividly evident, and youth unemployment is a matter of deep national concern. None of which is aided by the pervasive tide of corruption. And increasingly it is difficult to say our communities are paragons of safety.
The question is how we address these challenges to fully realise the real promise of our democracy, which is a Better Life for All.
In the 7th Administration’s Medium-Term Framework, we have set ourselves the tasks of job creation, investing in people, equitable land reform, deepening our democracy, building safer communities, deepening capacity to be resilient for climate change and deepening global cooperation.
Addressing challenges
To this end, President Ramaphosa, in the second State of Nation Address (SoNA) of the 7th Administration, sets out the irrefutable evidence which shows how we are addressing these challenges. This includes stepping up the fight against organised crime and criminal syndicates through technology, intelligence and integrated law enforcement.
Multi-disciplinary intervention teams focused on dismantling criminal networks and appointing 5 500 new police officers. This is in addition to
20 000 new officers announced in SoNA 2025.
The SoNA also illustrated ongoing interventions to deepen the State’s capacity to deliver on the promise of a better life for all. The interventions include fixing local government by committing significant financial resources towards water and sanitation reform, speeding up economic transformation, inclusive growth and job creation by prioritising digital infrastructure and establishing R100 trillion infrastructure push over three years, build and maintain infrastructure and create jobs.
In addition, the Youth Employment Service continues to provide young people with valuable work experience, with the programme having benefited approximately 200 000 participants to date.
There is no question that overall, the role of diplomacy is not tangental to these endeavours. It is further amplified by our bilateral agreements, our participation in plurilateral and multilateral forums.
Achieving a better global environment (a better world) benefits all South Africans
It is becoming increasingly clear, especially in the current geopolitical environment that foreign policy is the bridge between domestic progress and global influence. Put differently, we must be a nation that inspires by example. A human rights outlook does not mean policing the world.
Human Rights are universal principles, which in our view are grounded in Ubuntu, which cannot translate into uniform enforcement by a single actor.
By implementing a foreign policy based on constitutionally enshrined values and a principled stance, the country is, at the same time, being pragmatic in how it achieves its objective. This is because a foreign policy based on Ubuntu is similar to the idea of “enlightened self-interest,” where one’s own long-term interests is advanced by helping others and supporting wider stability rather than short-term narrow gains.
Achieving a better global environment (a better world) benefits all South Africans in the long-term. A principled, value-based foreign policy also generates trust, which is vital to building international agreements, cooperation and a more stable international system.
In practice this means that whilst we may recognise that some countries may have domestic challenges, we are also carefully alive to the fact that the political authority to change that does not rest with us. No single actor has the authority to dictate outcomes in another country.
Our own history shows that it is solidarity that inspires change, and ultimately it is dialogue that leads to change. Mediation and the peaceful resolution of conflicts is how long-lasting peace is ushered in – not through the barrel of the gun.
Great cost and danger march alongside all of us:
Our freedom is not a commodity that can be measured or possessed; it is an intangible product of solidarity. While it became necessary to take up arms in the struggle against apartheid, it was the solidarity of the people of the world that sustained the liberation of the oppressed and, in time, even freed the enforcers of apartheid from the moral prison of their own system
Dialogue among South Africans revealed a profound truth: that people of all races and religious creeds can live side by side in dignity. Even when this coexistence was denied in practice, the very act of dialogue illuminated the possibility of a shared future, proving that reconciliation is not born of force but of recognition and celebration of diversity, respect, and solidarity is what unites us.
We are a nation which was and still is inspired by the bravery of the United States of America Senator Robert Kennedy’s Speech in 1966 on our shores when he said,
“We have passed laws prohibiting discrimination in education, in employment, in housing; but these laws alone cannot overcome the heritage of centuries of broken families and stunted children, and poverty and degradation and pain. So, the road toward equality of freedom is not easy, and great cost and danger march alongside all of us”.
These words were said at a time when the Senator’s country had an ambivalent position on apartheid. Most interestingly his words are not just a challenge for our own society but also in those where discrimination existed and continues to exist.
Why Africa is the centre piece of our foreign policy
Equally, we are a nation inspired by the heroic acts of African States like Nigeria which, upon attaining independence across all political lines, used their foreign policy to pursue the liberation and decolonisation of South Africa by spearheading the forceful expulsion of Apartheid South Africa from international forums.
But the support went far beyond the diplomatic action. By the end of apartheid in 1994, Nigeria had contributed an estimated US$61 billion toward the anti-apartheid effort. In today’s terms, this amount exceeds US$130 billion, or roughly R2.4 trillion. To put that in perspective, a fellow African nation invested the equivalent of nearly one-and-a-half times our current annual national budget into our liberation.
Examples of this include ordinary Nigerians like students contributing financially to the anti-apartheid movement in reaction to the 1976 Soweto uprisings and Nigerian civil servants who likewise contributed portions of their salaries.
The current challenges of migration and other matters of law enforcement should not be used as blinkers to negate these heroic and tangible contributions to our freedom.
Closer to home, solidarity came at a high price for our immediate neighbours. Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe paid in blood and infrastructure.
Between 1980 and 1989 alone, South African-backed destabilisation cost these nations an estimated US$60 billion (over US$220 billion today). Their railways were sabotaged, their bridges bombed, and their power lines cut. The United Nations estimated that the region’s gross domestic product was stunted by nearly 30% because they refused to stop supporting our struggle.
When we speak of “charity beginning at home,” we must remember that for decades, the homes of our neighbours were under fire because they chose to make our cause their own. It its within this context that we exert and exalt Africa as the centre piece of our foreign policy.
Today, as we confront the pervasive tides of corruption, youth unemployment and the challenges of safety in our communities, we must resist the urge to turn inward or but continue to work for regional integration through the African Free Trade Area – the AU flagship programme aimed at creating one Africa market, accounting for 1.4 billion Africans.
*This article first appeared in Public Sector Magazine
