#2 Does South Africa Love Russia More Than Ukraine?
You can bomb people... just not the white ones...
Image by Alexander Koch
Was South Africa’s UN Vote for Russia Against Ukraine? Asking myself that question sparked this series. Since then, I’m a long way down the rabbit hole but you can follow my footsteps…
The political masquerade is overwhelming louder than truth so why should South Africa's dancing in this fog matter?
It does because our abstention wasn't seen as neutrality in our deliberately polarised world. We’ve been insulted for our Government's vote. It further divides our citizenry which thinks that we're in a war between black and white, liberals and communists, when it is only another war of Power versus the People.
Convenient and Inconvenient Diplomacy
Let me go back to the start, which was 24 February 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
The following day, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa subtly suggested that the war was the fault of the USA. He said:
“Some of us were very disappointed when the meeting between President Biden and President Putin did not happen. Because if that meeting had gone ahead without any conditions [by the USA], I’m sure we would have avoided the calamitous situation unfolding now.”
In response, Brian McKeon, the US Deputy Secretary of State, insisted that, “The United States left no diplomatic stone unturned.”
On 28 February, Russia tweeted South Africa with:
"Today marks 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and South Africa! Our interaction is distinguished by the strong bonds of friendship & cooperation established during the struggle against apartheid, which continue to develop today."
On 2 March 2022, South Africa made international news when it abstained from voting on the issue at the UN. Rather than appear neutral, as abstention would suggest, we’ve been made out to be a Putin pleaser.
I use "we" in the most general sense because my Government doesn’t work for me or most of my fellow 60-million citizens. Our country is as rotten as an old egg floating in a sticky cockroach sewer. Diplomats label that as a “developing democracy”. We have that in common with Ukraine.
But those overseas countries that invest, or should I say take from us, treat us as if we're something special in Sub-Saharan Africa where tribalism and despots are as popular as rape and murder, poverty and prosperity evangelists, and politicians and assassination. Trade is the sun that makes the world go round and is sure to shine brighter on us than neighbours such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Consequently, we sucked more Media attention for our inconsequential non-vote than 24 other African nations that abstained or never voted.
To seemingly want to prove Western Media right, that our abstention was a vote for Russia, its embassy thanked us with:
"Dear subscribers, we have received a great number of letters of solidarity from South Africans, both individuals and organizations. We appreciate your support and glad you decided to stand with us today, when Russia, like 80 years ago, is fighting Nazism in Ukraine!"
The German Embassy responded with:
"Sorry, but we can't stay silent on this one, it's just far too cynical. What [Russia] is doing in [Ukraine], is slaughtering innocent children, women and men for its own gain. It's definitely not 'fighting Nazism'. Shame on anyone who's falling for this. Sadly, we're kinda experts on Nazism."
The darkly hilarious side is that they were initially allies in WW2, before Stalin switched sides to the USA, which, in turn, was before the Cold War.
Ukraine is only the latest move in a chess game in which the world’s population are almost always pawns willing to die. In between the Kings and the dying, there are many with ambitions.
The Hypocrisy of Righteousness
In between those embassy exchanges, on 3 March 2022, Clayson Monyela, South Africa’s International Relations Director, tweeted:
"I assume you saw the Vote Explanation. Thoughts? #whataboutism Let's not forget the People of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Somalia etc. The EU should 'condemn' aggressors in these cases as well. Consistency in our diplomatic endeavours is critical."
True, true, true! It must be criticised that the value of war victims is judged through racist eyes. It’s easy, for example, for the USA to bomb a brown spot in Arabia, yet immoral for Russia to bomb white Ukraine. However, South African has never been the Rainbow Saint it pretends to be.
The same day Monyela ‘moralised’ on Twitter about Yemen, South Africa’s Parliament was hypocritically informed that we’d be sending billions of rands in weapons to the Middle East. The following quote is taken from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group:
"The Committee was informed that there had been challenges in South Africa’s trade relations with defence exports halted in the Middle East, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Oman. However, the matter has been resolved following the decision by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) to approve normal transactions with these countries. Over R5.5 billion in transactions have been immediately unlocked due to the NCACC decision to allow exports. R21 billion is still to be unlocked. Unfortunately, R2 billion in opportunities were lost due to the delays. The role of NCACC as an enabler of business for the Defence Industry is crucial in the approval and speedy processing of permits. Market access needs a boost, and the government needs to play an active role in marketing the local defence industry, as other major powers do when they engage their diplomatic counterparts. Special attention should be paid to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia."
Open Secrets, an investigative NGO, stated:
"Since the war in Yemen broke out in 2014, South African and global arms companies have cashed in on the sale of weapons to parties who are central to this humanitarian disaster. These firms have profited from the devastation of war and the resulting misery of Yemenis. On 3 March 2021, Open Secrets published ‘Profiting from Misery: South Africa’s Complicity in War Crimes in Yemen’. This report shows that Rheinmetall Denel Munitions (RDM) and other South African companies have regularly supplied Saudi Arabia and the UAE led coalition with weapons before and since the civil war started in Yemen."
When caught in a lie, it’s best to apologise with an honest position. But the most popular option is to double-down. On Monday, 7 March 2022, President Ramaphosa chose the latter, emailing a hollow statement entitled ‘Resolution of Conflict in Ukraine Must Be Durable and Lasting’. It included:
"South Africa abstained from voting in last week’s United Nations resolution on the escalating conflict between Russia and its neighbour Ukraine because the resolution did not foreground the call for meaningful engagement...
There have been some who have said that in abstaining from the vote condemning Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, South Africa has placed itself on the wrong side of history. Yet, South Africa is firmly on the side of peace at a time when another war is something the world does not need, nor can it afford. The results of these hostilities will be felt globally and for many years to come... A cessation of hostilities may indeed be achieved through force of arms or economic pressure, but it would be unlikely to lead to a sustainable and lasting peace."
Modern Politics is Uncivilised
“POLITICS" has become a dreaded word but can we define it? It’s supposed to be acts of governance for the citizens of a country but has become act of rulership to preserve power over us 'common folk'.
No superpower, as servant to that description "super power", and because super corruption corrupts superbly, can be an exception. That's punctuated by the biggest peace professors being the biggest weapons dealers.
False democracies and dictatorships are the most popular forms of governments.
Possibly, the only ‘civilised’ civilisations are the Nordic countries, Ireland, Uruguay, Singapore and New Zealand. If Iceland warmed up 23 degrees and gave the rand equal value, I'd move. Canada has been wobbly this century, but I’ll slip it in on the good side. I exclude Switzerland because its wonderful canton system is contradicted by it collectively benefitting as the banker for crooked corporations and oligarchs (which, contrary to current populism, aren’t all Russian).
Most of the world, which includes my I Love/I Despise South Africa, must work hard towards self-deluded hope pretending we're not prostituted for the sake of politics. That daily up-the-arse grind for daring realists defies the beautiful optimism of Stephen Pinker and friends.
The overruling pessimism here is that South Africa is not a democracy, and we are for sale to whoever will enrich our politicians or loan us money so that the economy doesn’t crash and cost them their well-paid, graft-filled positions. Damn the next generations that must pay it back.
46.6% of South Africans are unemployed. Government is increasing social grants by more than 10%, equalling R250bn annual expenditure. Grants equal survival but the sharp side of the blade is that it becomes immense free marketing for the ANC which is afraid of losing power for the first time since Apartheid ended. Through theft, our mostly black ANC Government is responsible for the economic mess. And the corruption of the DA, the pretend opposition party that’s led by white people, is protected by the ANC. The regular South African has no party fighting for him or her.
Corrupt politicians know hate buys votes, so they pretend to fight each other whilst always defeating us. It's a cruel mess but the certainty is that all colours of citizen are the underdogs to destructive power. That’s an anti-racism position that’s impossible to cheer from.
More pointedly, here, the USA, Russia and the Ukraine are not democracies, and thus only propaganda and bias can claim that this war is between Western morality and Eastern immorality, democracy versus dictatorship. War should never be broken down into cheerleading slogans.
I’ve ruled out morality and democracy as excuse for South Africa’s vote. Ideology and economics remain.
Personal Economics
BRICS is a great acronym created from the first letter of the participating countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
As an organisation, it was meant to be an emerging economy alternative to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) which are viewed as extensions of American imperialism. Ironically, the BRICS concept belonged to Goldman Sachs executive.
Brazil, India and South Africa were colonised by the West; China suffered the Opium Wars; and Russia was the West’s main opponent during the Cold War (which the USA, in practice, pretends never ended). However, ideology is less relevant than the differences between the BRICS’ members, something that has held them back from grander policies.
That unsteadiness becomes more mixed in this globalised era.
Brazil fluctuates it tone but hasn’t aimed to piss off America, and President Bolsonaro was in a bro romance with Trump. Brazil even voted for the UN draft resolution against Russia's aggression in Ukraine despite desperately needing Russian fertilisers for its food production.
Russian oligarchs loved London, and the City of London has loved their ill-gotten wealth.
No matter that China nears becoming the apex predator, and that it views the USA as its enemy, its wealth grew from American capitalism, and their economies remain intricately linked.
India deserves special mention for managing an incredible balancing act between China, Russia, and the USA. It has skirmishes with China on the Tibetan border and is seen by the USA as an invaluable future ally.
Opposingly, The Atlantic reports that China’s buddy, Russia, has supplied India with 85% of its military equipment, that “India is buying three more Kilo-class submarines from Russia - it already has nine such vessels in its navy - as well as 400 Russian T-90 main battle tanks, adding to the Indian army’s existing fleet of more than 1,000 T-90s."
The Times adds that in December 2022, India and Russia…
“…signed a flurry of trade and arms deals, including a 10-year military and technical cooperation program that will see India produce half a million Kalashnikov assault rifles. India already builds BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles with Russia…
Outside of defence, a Russian state-owned enterprise is building India’s biggest nuclear power plant.
Energy-hungry India, the third largest oil importer after China and the US, is also counting on Russian oil and gas to boost its economy. In recent deals, which are expected to triple annual trade between the two by 2025 from the current $11 billion, India has secured uninterrupted supplies of Russian coal; signed a contract with Rosneft for up to 2 million tons of oil this year; will invest in Russian oilfields and LNG projects; and mine coking coal in Russia’s Far East.”
South Africa is also a straddler, spiritually a Communist but an American capitalist in practice – even red unionists like fancy cars.
South Africa has made legal changes to appear liberal but that’s in contrast to including the Communist Party (SACP) in government without the Public voting for them (though many hope the unions and SACP will create a breakaway party). They all refer to one another as "comrade', as does the ANC’s radical breakaway faction, the EFF.
Despite alleged corruption involving the EFF leadership, the ANC has been reluctant, for years, to hold them accountable.
Some consider the EFF to be the marketing team for the Jacob Zuma faction of the ANC which opposes President Ramaphosa’s faction. It’s the third largest party by numbers but often the loudest. The EFF says what a lot of ANC members feel but dare not say.
On 16 March, the EFF published the following statement in support of Russia:
“The Leadership of the Economic Freedom Fighters, led by the President and Commander in Chief Julius Malema, held a meeting with the embassy of the Russian Federation in South Africa, led by Ambassador Ilya Rogachev.
The meeting was essentially about receiving a first-hand briefing from the Russian Federation's embassy on the ongoing military operations [my emphasis] in Ukraine. The meeting was additionally about the EFF's re-confirmation of its anti-imperialist position, which is that the USA led War Alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) must not be permitted to further expand to anywhere else in the world because it is a threat to global peace, security and stability.
The EFF leadership has taken note that contrary to the master Western and imperialist narrative on the ongoing military operations in Ukraine, the following are indisputable facts and reality.
· Western imperialist forces have been for many years using the former Republics of the United Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR) as satellites which essentially seek to threaten and undermine Russia's security and stability…
· The United States has established biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine with the purpose of using these against the Russian population…
· The government of Ukraine has since 2014 been engaging in genocide in the Eastern regions of Donbass and Luhansk and there has never been global condemnation of these genocidal activities…
· Russia's special military operations in Ukraine, unlike the military operations of the US in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Libya, have not targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure, yet Western and imperialist media platforms are portraying a false and misleading picture…
· The people of South Africa and the entire African continent must never turn their backs against Russia because it was essentially the Russia led USSR that provided ideological, political and military training and support in the war against colonialism…
· We demand that the USA must desist from sponsoring the neo-Nazi and ultra nationalist forces that have since the 2014 coup de tat done everything in their power to wipe out Russians from Ukraine's territory…”
Some of the EFF’s startling points are true but diluted by rhetoric. They may be more emphatic that the South African government but neither truth nor lies count when there’s hidden agenda.
Politicians only pay lip service. For example, they can make laws protecting LGTBQ people but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t homophobic, just a cosmetic reflection of a society that still kills lesbians.
Ideology is superficial. It’s not the reason why South Africa is abstaining from condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
One of two possible motives is nostalgia. Many ANC members received military training from Russia during apartheid. An AP article, ‘Africa mostly quiet amid widespread condemnation of Russia’, states that:
“Many nations on the continent of 1.3 billion people have long-standing ties and support from Moscow, dating back to the Cold War when the Soviet Union supported anti-colonial struggles.” Russian and Chinese influence has filled the space left behind by the USA and in “2019, dignitaries from 43 African nations attended a summit with Russia, which has become the dominant exporter of weapons into sub-Saharan Africa.”
Russia has support from all factions in the ANC.
A controversy has been several trips to Russia by South African Vice President, David Mabuza. They’ve been excused as medical trips but with no supporting details given, such as his illness and why talented local doctors, or talented Cubans we hire, aren’t good enough. Furthermore, what use is a silent and absent leader during a crisis such as the 2021 food riots, also known as the Zuma Riots, that were instigated and allowed by political interests, causing 354 deaths and $1.7bn damage.
Ex-President Jacob Zuma, when a revolutionary, received military training in Russia. The Government he’d led had tried to illegally enter nuclear tenders with Russia that would have bankrupted the country. That was during a period called “State Capture” in which there was across-the-board looting of Government entities. Yes, I have sympathy for Ukraine.
Mabuza, who was the ANC’s Kingmaker, betrayed President Zuma by voting for Ramaphosa to take control of the party and, as consequence, the Presidency. Since then, there have been repeated attempts to hold Zuma accountable for his crimes.
Nevertheless, Zuma buttered the same bread as Ramaphosa, saying:
“I am certain that His Excellency President Vladimir Putin will reciprocate and bring all his power to make peace a reality, as I know him to be a man of peace who has worked hard to ensure peace and stability in the globe.”
Similarly, South Africa’s historical communist friendship with Cuba remains strong. Cuba has received large contracts for work they’re not needed for, or they’re overpaid.
Considering South Africa being the most unequal society, the Durban food riots, and loans from the World Bank, it was controversial when South Africa recently tried to gift Cuba with R50-million. This was explained by Naledi Pando, Minister of International Relations, as South Africa responding to Cuba’s “call for humanitarian assistance in the context of reciprocity and its historical friendship and solidarity with Cuba which was cemented though Cuba’s sacrifices during our struggle for freedom.”
BRICS, however, is not based on communist longings. It seeks to be an alternative capitalist weapon to neoliberalism.
It wants to circumvent the international dominance of SWIFT, the Belgian interbank transactions communications system. The Chinese creation is CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System), and it is guaranteed that will be a priority project now that SWIFT has banned Russia as part of the attempt to destroy the Russian economy.
BRICS has established a National Development Bank (NDB) which is headquartered in Shanghai with regional offices in member countries. It has successfully issued bonds and granted loans for energy and construction projects, and covid-19 relief. Their projects are listed on their website, with a filter system separating operational and proposal.
Although BRICS is far from being an international powerhouse, the intention to grow is obvious. Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Uruguay have joined the NDB, though the founders will retain a majority of shares. And on the 28th of January 2022, the NDB announced that "The net proceeds from the sale of the [latest] Bond will be used onshore as general corporate resources of the NDB and to finance infrastructure and sustainable development activities in the Bank’s member states."
BRICS is obviously challenged by the Russia/Ukrainian war. It’s possible that could be a motivator towards greater ambition in the long run, but it has to keep itself on the rails now.
On March 3, the National Development Bank announced that: "In light of unfolding uncertainties and restrictions, NDB has put new transactions in Russia on hold." That statement should be viewed together with the fact that no BRIC member is sanctioning Russia.
The rotating chairmanship falls to China this year, and they’ll host the 14th BRICS Summit. They’ll have a lot to discuss.
Although BRICS and nostalgia likely played a role in South Africa’s abstention vote and consequent press statements, I believe that personal self-interest is the overriding factor.
Self-Interest
No matter the actions of people, it's who they think they are, or who they want to be perceived as, that counts. They’ll cheer loudly for Putin whilst worrying about their shares in MacDonald’s. Similarly, the Brits pretended distaste for Putin whilst hugging his cronies.
South Africa’s general defiance of the capitalistic West, evident in many speeches, is hypocritical as the ANC lives in big houses whilst robbing the country and killing their comrades for positions which mean better illegal access to Public funds.
Consequently, real nostalgia and fake wishes for peace aren’t enough to explain South Africa’s UN vote. Money is the better reason.
There’s no ambiguity about China’s abstention vote – Russia is her proxy war against the USA. That’ll be plumbed in another episode. Relevant here is that China is Africa’s largest trading partner, and South Africa is by far the most important therein.
South Africa is more a criminal syndicate than a country. Public funds are synonymous with criminal profiteering. Trade and loans are essential. Consequently, South Africa was willing to please China by repeatedly refusing the Dalai Lama’s a visa, even to attend the 14th world summit of Nobel peace laureates. It will not compromise China’s support for Russia unless other major forces are brought to bear, or if China changes its attitude to Russia.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the ANC and EFF are seeking international donors for the 2024 National Election which may become the most important in the post-Apartheid era. For the first time, who controls the country is at stake. Simply put, the ‘liberals’ can rely on Media bias and donations from overseas NGOs with dubious intentions, the ‘communists’ cannot.
I wish I could be a cheerleader for my country. I’ve fought political crime in the belief that we can be better, but the crooks have repeatedly been the winner, and me oppressed, whilst my countrymen have sat on the side-lines of their lives.
Our Apartheid and Neo-Apartheid Governments have a track record of racism, xenophobia and capitalism for the few, no matter the cost. We’re good at making human rights laws but that's not the same as believing them locally, let alone internationally.
The greatest threat to South Africa remains internal corruption. That makes us popular, surely malleable to both the West and East.
We’re Our Own Worst Enemy
At this point in making notes, I was eating my daily meal which happened to be chilli cabbage. Too absorbed in my work, I never reached for water. Instead, I swallowed that cabbage dish in under a minute because I needed the pain of its too-much-chilli to be over.
Suddenly, my throat seized, and hot stuff volcanoed into my nostrils from the backend. Whilst snorting tap water and gagging, I reached for my asthma pump and tissues. The crisis may have passed but my seared orifices and gasping lungs remained. I correctly expected that it would later be accompanied by a tummy feeling which would be relieved by an eruption from another hole.
The moral of my epic failure at multi-tasking is that I should have known better. That made me think of wilful ignorance, always the biggest threat to our happy existence.
What history teaches the few who read is that the politicians will lie to the Public who will eventually become outraged at being abused but replace that with wilful ignorance enabling them to swallow the next abusive lie. We’re the toddler that tries to stick its finger in the electrical socket no matter how many times our mother gives us a smack. Mentally, most have never grown up, never known individuality or the power of citizenship.
That lions hunt buck is not the lions’ fault. The sociopaths in power are simply being true to their nature.
I'm fully for hunting sociopaths but I'm offended by the crime of deliberate incomprehension by the masses. It's a loathsome and extraordinary waste of possible power. And I’m irritated that no matter how much I think I’m more an individual than my neighbours, humanity is a collective, forcing me to sometimes speak as “we” and “us”.
Are we, like other countries, sticking our knives into the backs of fleeing Ukrainians?
Am I and my fellow citizens responsible for the decisions of our Government which is supposed to represent us? As the majority, surely, we are? Or are we only the knife in someone else’s hand when we have yet to insist for our own democracy?
As an individual, I should also be questioned. My long-held sentimental ambition to visit every country on the Black Sea certainly doesn't qualify me as useful to Ukraine. Although I've previously been cliched in saying that "words are weapons", I wouldn't say it to an unarmed woman facing an enemy tank in Odessa.
Is South Africa serving Russia, and doomed for doing so?
Jonathan Katzenellenbogen, a freelance journalist, questioned the price of South Africa’s loyalty to Russia. He said that, "If Russia ultimately withdraws, South Africa will have backed a loser. And if Russia remains, it will have backed a country that has been ostracised by much of the international community."
I believe in more possibilities, and that Russia scoring a win, even diluted, is one of them.
I also don’t see South Africa’s minerals not being needed, nor the Brexited UK not wanting our best fruit. Somewhere down the line, Bill Gates will probably return to play tennis in Cape Town, or ping-pong in Pretoria.
Just like supplying birthday cake to pre-schoolers makes fake friends, so do we by supplying weapons.
We’ve been pillaged and sold for centuries which is a greater force than a foreign war wherein we’re not an active participant no matter how our vote was interpreted. Besides, any action against us, would only push us more quickly into China’s eager hands.
We’re back to where this started. I asked, “Does South Africa love Russia more than Ukraine?” No, we do not. We love and hate Russia no more than it loves and hates Ukraine.
Countries do not love each other; they only have politicians with self-serving agendas.
This was essay #2 in the series ‘Putin Isn’t the Only Monster in Ukraine’. In essay #3, I’ll explain why the Russian/Ukrainian war is mostly NATO’s fault.