Former ANC policy strategist Joel Netshitenzhe (centre right) speaks at the eThekwini International Conference Centre on shifting global power dynamics and South Africa’s strategic posture amid China’s rising influence.
News24/Garth Theunissen
Joel Netshitenzhe says South Africa must maintain a strategic posture as China rises and the Donald Trump administration targets the country for honouring its Constitution.He says Africa should tactically benefit from US-China competition,rather than being a passive participant. South Africa’s control of 70%+ of key minerals creates both opportunity and risk,requiring African unity and global coalitions,according to Netshitenzhe.Former ANC policy guru Joel Netshitenzhe has advised that South Africa needs to maintain a “strategic posture” as the balance of power in geopolitics appears to be shifting in favour of China.
Netshitenzhe,who is a former ANC national executive committee member,said South Africa was being targeted by US President Donald Trump’s administration because Pretoria dared heal its divisions of the past.
Netshitenzhe made these remarks at the eThekwini International Conference Centre recently.
The municipality had commissioned him to reflect on the theme “Global power dynamics: whither South Africa?”
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Netshitenzhe said it was clear that the US couldn’t stop China’s ascent to become the world's largest economy,nor could it stop Beijing’s technological advancement.
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He said that because global tensions and intense competition among the great powers were bound to intensify,South Africa and the rest of the continent had to develop practical strategies to exercise their collective agency.
“In this regard,we need to be very clear: primary unipolarity in the context of a hyperpower sensing decline,is now being asserted without the velvet glove of pretence,” he added.
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Netshitenzhe referred to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent controversial speech about the West’s dominance over the Global South.
“To quote him [Rubio]: For five centuries,before the end of the Second World War,the West had been expanding – its missionaries,its pilgrims,its soldiers,its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans,settle new continents,build vast empires extending out across the globe.”
Netshitenzhe cited Rubio as lamenting that during the post-1945 period,Western empires experienced a terminal decline,accelerated by anti-colonial uprisings.
He added:
In other words,from his perspective,our freedom from colonial rule across countries of the South,is a negative development to be decried.
“What then needs to be done? Whither Africa and South Africa in particular?”
Netshitenzhe urged the South African government to fully appreciate the country's and the rest of the continent's position in the evolving global dynamics.
“The endowments that we have are our key competitive and comparative advantages: be it minerals for old and new technologies,arable land,the sun and wind for a low-carbon transition,or the demographic dividend,” he said.
“Secondly,intense competition among global powers creates the possibility for us,tactically,to take advantage of the situation.
“As these powers pursue their interests on the continent,we need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that Africa is a passive theatre of great power competition.”
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Netshitenzhe said China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the partnerships the US and its allies pursue in Africa must be used as a platform for South Africa to benefit as much as possible.
“Critical to this is that,as they develop and implement their Africa strategies,African countries should,individually and collectively,themselves devise strategic approaches to all the great powers and other regions of the world,” he added.
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He called for a united African voice that could influence the direction of global peace,sovereignty,equitable trade relations,social development,a just,low-carbon transition,and pandemic-readiness.
“In other words,it is possible for us to contribute to the shaping of global power dynamics.”
Netshitenzhe said this could only succeed if South Africa and the African continent built “circles of broad fronts” on global issues.
He added:
We should proceed from the understanding that some among the global players will agree with us on specific issues; while others may embrace all the ideals we have such as the restructuring of global multilateral institutions,Agenda 2063,Africa Mining Vision,Africa’s Green Minerals Strategy,the African Continental Free Trade Area and,closer to home,the National Development Plan.
“Most of these issues were unanimously agreed to at the recent G20 Summit. This is in addition to other continental propositions on global financial reform,reducing the cost of capital,a debtors’ club,methodological transparency and counter-balances in relation to credit rating agencies,resolving conflicts,improving governance and eliminating corruption.
“Now,this kind of strategic posture is equally demanded of South Africa.”
Netshitenzhe said this was because South Africa commanded more than 70% of the global reserves of chrome and manganese,and among the largest reserves of vanadium,zirconium and titanium.
“Besides its relatively advanced level of industrialisation,South Africa’s geo-strategic location – including the sea lanes – also counts in our favour.
“But,as we all know,blessings can,at once,be a curse. They do attract both wanted and unwanted attention. It is not per accident that South African territory was among the first to suffer the rapacious licence of Rubio’s vast empires extending out across the globe.”
Netshitenzhe said South Africans needed to understand its need to build broad fronts across the globe in pursuit of social justice and an equitable world order.
This could only be done through unity,he added.
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