Publications
Partners
Former South African Ambassador of Thailand, Roel H Goris argues that there are some crucial points that News24 columnist Oscar van Heerden missed in a recent column he wrote.
In his article "Senator Lindsay Graham, your bully tactics will not alter the course of history" (News24, 9 March, 2023) Mr Oscar van Heerden draws a direct analogy between the United State's "bullying" of South Africa and the mighty Athenian army invading the small island of Melan, executing its men and enslaving its women and children after its surrender during the Peloponnesian war in Greek history. Mr Van Heerdeen writes, history repeats itself: the mighty US (=Athens) imposing itself on the rest of the world, and bullying South Africa (=Melan) "to surrender, pay tribute to the US, condemn Russia, stop any further contact with the Chinese Communist Party, or be destroyed".
Mr Van Heerden has seemingly missed a few crucial points here. Firstly, the key issue here is not Western dominance but the defence of the universal principle of national sovereignty, which forms the basis of international relations. This explains why not only "the West", but the vast majority of UN member states voted to condemn Russia's ongoing military attack against a sovereign country and UN member state - including several leading African countries like Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya.
Basic international principle
Only a small minority voted against or abstained in the UN vote, including South Africa. It is very surprising and disappointing that a "scholar of international relations" does not even mention this context.
In reality, in its explanation of its abstention vote South Africa sanctimoniously starts by confirming its adherence to the universal principle of national sovereignty and then proceeds to side publicly with the very country that is brazenly trampling on this same principle.
In its desire to oppose perceived "Western hegemony" and to support a "new multi-polar world", South Africa - and Mr Van Heerden - seem willing to ignore and even undermine this basic international principle.
READ | Nhlanhla Cyril Mbatha: SA should align its foreign policy with its economic posture. Here's why
Secondly, to continue with Mr Van Heerden's Greek analogy, a simple question: did the US or "the West", in its "bully tactics", ever invade or threaten to invade and destroy South Africa like Athens did with Melan? Is this analogy not much more applicable to Russia's invasion of Ukraine? How did you manage to miss this irony, sir?
Then Mr Van Heerden makes this remarkable statement: "This is not our war. This bullying constitutes the violation of the most fundamental of laws in the international system, that of the sovereignty of states." Not Russia's flagrant and brutal military aggression against a sovereign state is a fundamental violation (we should remain "neutral", remember) - but US "bullying" is. Really?
Another way of imposing hegemony
Of course, it is South Africa's right to associate itself with its chosen allies, including conducting military exercises with them. The US certainly did not send its navy to stop this. But this being South Africa's choice, can the "bullying fallen empire" (Mr Van Heerden's words) be blamed or condemned for being less forthcoming in providing aid and economic support to South Africa, like granting preferential access to US markets through AGOA, or running the massive HIV-Aids project, which has already saved many thousands of South African lives following former President Mbeki's disastrous HIV denialist policies?
I have a practical suggestion: would it not be a great blow against Western hegemony and bully tactics if South Africa would point-blank refuse to accept the $8,5 billion offered by "the West" to help finance its just energy transition - which is surely another effort in imposing its hegemony over the rest of the world - and rather procure this financing in roubles or renminbi from our real friends?
- Roel H Goris is a former South African Ambassador of Thailand.
