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Home , Duma Nokwe, Joe Slovo, John Langalibalele Dube, Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe, Thabo Mbeki

ANC CENTENARY

n African National Congress (ANC) foreign policy or Ainternational relations strategy is as old as the movement itself: a

(Heinemann 1978) (Heinemann whopping 100 years! There are very many ANC, South Party (SACP) and South African Congress of Trade Union (SACTU) leaders and activists who played a critical role in defending and promoting the theory and practice of internationalism, international solidarity, world peace, African unity, and an African agenda. Let us in the year of the

Preparing for Power – Speaks Tambo Oliver – Power for Preparing centenary mention some of them. They are: , Pixley ka Seme, Z. K. Mathews, Inkhosi , , ,

Image taken from taken Image Brian Bunting, Ray Simons, , Johnny Makhatini, Alfred Nzo, , M.P Naicker, Dennis Brutus, Alex La Guma, O.R Tambo, Mark Shope, , Gertrude Shope, Ruth Mompathi, , Reginald September, , Jacob.G Zuma, and others like Pan-African Congress leaders and Black Conscious leader . The white minority embarked on efforts to create their “white state” in a black land, which culminated in the elections in September 1910 to consolidate the Union of South , with the 100 Years of South African Party (SAP) winning comfortably. The primary aim was to seek reconciliation within the white community between descendents anc foreign of the English and Dutch who had engaged in the two Anglo-Boer Wars of 1880 to 1881 and 1899 to 1902. The establishment of this white- policy dominated Union changed the face of black politics forever. Black South Africans and other anti-racist OR Tambo with in the 70s forces objected to the fact that black citizens were given no protection, privileges, or legal safeguards. On 12 Mobilising international solidarity and fighting January 1912 African leaders met in Bloemfontein, in the spirit of African for the self-determination of black South nationalism, and vowed to establish a Native Union in . Its Africans, and other peoples under the gripping aim was to provide a representative and responsible outlet for African yoke of colonial domination, became a hallmark opinion and to counter exploitation. of ANC international strategy. The NNC took umbrage at the fact that blacks were not even consulted over the establishment of the Union By Chris Landsberg and delegates to the 1912 Convention responded emphatically with the

24 THE THINKER ANC CENTENARY establishment of the South African clear reference to African sovereignty UN, OAU, Commonwealth, non- Native National Congress (SANNC), and self-determination. It specifically aligned movement, progressive trade to be re-named the African National opined in this regard that ‘The right of union, peace, youth and student Congress (ANC) in 1923. all people of Africa to independence movements and international civic The ANC articulated a foreign policy and self-governance shall be movements in ways that few other component to its political strategies recognised, and shall be the basis of issues could. Former Swedish Prime from the onset. It should be noted that, close cooperation’. The principles of Minister and stanch ANC ally, Olaf a good 8 years before the SANNC was self-determination and solidarity thus Palme, once depicted the struggle established, one of its future leaders, loomed large in ANC foreign policy against as a ‘universal cause’; Pixley ka Seme would publish his from its very foundation years. and Kadar Asmal similarly noted that seminal document ‘The Regeneration ‘opposition to racism and apartheid’ of Africa’, which would help to shape The International Anti-Apartheid established ‘the only universal the thinking of the new movement Crusade consensus the world has seen since the and infuse modernity into the African It was in fact after the Freedom Second World War’. consciousness of the organisation. Charter that the ANC came to develop In 1962, the United Nations Special In reaction to the arrogance of a real foreign policy in the form of Committee Against Apartheid was the whites to establish their Union, an “international isolation” crusade, established. One of its objectives was to the SANCC sent its first delegation to complementing its other strategic maintain detailed surveillance of, and Britain to mobilize solidarity against arenas: underground organisation, to seek to curtail, South Africa’s trade, the creation of a white union of South mass mobilisation and armed struggle. economic, financial, business, military, Africa., but did not get a sympathetic The ANC in fact became one of the diplomatic, sport and cultural ties with hearing from the Crown. From that world’s most sophisticated liberation the outside world. The Organisation time, mobilising international solidarity movements precisely because of this of African Unity (OAU), established in and fighting for the self-determination ambitious foreign policy strategy. 1963, never even bothered to invite of black South Africans, and other In his famous Nobel Peace Prize South Africa to join, instead choosing peoples under the gripping yoke speech titled ‘Africa and Freedom’, in to support the liberation struggle of the of colonial domination, became a December 1961, Chief Albert Luthuli ANC and the PAC. hallmark of ANC international strategy. alluded to a philosophy of African The OAU campaigned for sanctions, Whites were determined to turn South renewal as he made clear that the international mobilisation and Africa into “a great White man’s land”. ANC’s goal was ‘a united Africa in armed struggle against the ‘the illegal The ANC was determined to see to it which the standards of life and liberty government of the settler minority’. The that international solidarity helped to are constantly expanding’. Luthuli ANC and other liberation movements thwart this goal. vowed that his movement would work were regarded as ‘the sole and authentic The towards helping to realize ‘Africa’s representatives of the peoples of South The Freedom Charter was adopted age’. He called for sanctions against Africa’. Campaigned for by the ANC in 1955 following the ANC’s Defiance the apartheid regime, and for harsh and other liberation forces, the OAU Campaign which started in 1952. punishment of the racist government established a Liberation Committee It spelled out the basic demands of who committed the ‘cruelty’ at and a Special Fund for the Liberation the people, but it did not neglect to . of African Territories still under Colonial speak about foreign policy. Under In the aftermath of the bannings and Racist Rule. the clause ‘There shall be Peace and of the ANC and other liberation The broad anti-apartheid movement Friendship’ the ANC campaigned for movements, a new chapter would forged close working relations with the a clear identity as ‘a fully independent begin in earnest: deputy president South African liberation movements in state, which respects the rights and at the time, and soon to become exile, as well as the United Democratic sovereignty of all nations’. It went president, Oliver. R. Tambo would Movement (UDF) and the Mass further to assert that it should ‘strive come to spearhead the movements Democratic Movement (MDM) inside to maintain world peace and the new focus on building an international the country. Anti-apartheid movements settlement of disputes by negotiation solidarity movement, consolidating the took the art of lobbying to new heights. and not war’. The idea of a country at ANC’s bases abroad, notably in Africa, By the time of the obdurate P.W. peace with others was a strong point, and do so amidst trying circumstances. Botha’s enforced resignation from committing the ANC to a posture that Part of the new international strategy the presidency in August 1989, South ‘Peace and friendship among all our was to expose Apartheid as the Africa had been rendered one of the people shall be secured by upholding most extreme form of government- most isolated states in the world, with the equal rights, opportunities and sanctioned racial segregation in the only 27 countries maintaining formal status of all’. In terms of the African world, and former director of the UN diplomatic relations. continent, the Freedom Charter stated Special Committee Against Apartheid, that ‘The people of the Protectorates E.S. Reddy, stated, ‘apartheid was the Constitutional Guidelines of 1988 – Basutoland, Bechuanaland and world’s most blatant system of racism’. and the Declaration Swaziland – shall be free to decide The international isolation campaign The rising intensity of the struggle for themselves their own future,’ a helped to unite against apartheid the inside South Africa, led by the ANC,

Volume 35 / 2012 25 ANC CENTENARY

an ethical, moralistic foreign policy while also pursuing its economic self- interests. The government tried to be both non-aligned and close to the West; and promised to put Africa first while also placing the global South at the top of its foreign policy agenda. In the end, the Mandela administration learned that it was no easy task to © ANC Archives, practice diplomacy along the lines of a set of seemingly contradictory doctrines as the government struggled to promote human rights on the African continent. On the one hand it wished to encourage the democratisation of, and Alfred Nzo, OR Tambo and Thabo Mbeki human rights in, countries like ; yet on the other hand it needed these and the enormous impact of the of National Unity was as committed countries as strategic partners to help it international solidarity movement to recomposing South Africa’s foreign to realise its goals of peace promotion gave impetus to the ANC formulating policy and international affairs as it was in the Democratic Republic of Congo The Constitutional Guidelines for a to reconstructing the post-apartheid and . It stressed ethical Democratic South Africa of 1988 and state. But embarking on these projects foreign policy goals while pursuing the the Harare Declaration of 1989, which was often frantic and bewildering as imperatives of building African unity both committed a future South Africa the new government struggled to find and solidarity. to being a unified and independent its feet and adapt to a perplexing and Government had learned some state that would pursue a non-aligned gruelling lessons as it tried to navigate posture in foreign policy. Together change and reconfigure its global role. these represented a vision of the future. The Mandela It was thus not surprising when Alfred government realised Nzo, then Foreign Minister, called 1994 Foreign Policy Discussion for a codified foreign policy doctrine. Document that its respectability The question arose as to the lessons In March 1994, just one month abroad would come the incoming Mbeki government before the April elections, the ANC from credibility could learn from the experiences of released a comprehensive foreign the Mandela administration and what policy document entitled ‘Foreign at home and as changes it would bring about to arrive Policy Perspectives in a Democratic such worked on at a more anchored diplomacy. South Africa’. It offered to promote a people-centred foreign policy strengthening and The Mbeki Period that would mirror the ANC’s ‘long consolidating its While there was a great deal of relationship with the international continuity between the domestic and community’ and ‘reflect the rich young democracy. foreign policies of the Mandela and tapestry of their international heritage’. Mbeki governments, there is little Such an orientation emphasised a fast-changing post-Cold War global doubt that Mbeki introduced significant new harmony with neighbours and a order. The new post-settlement modifications to both national and creative contribution to the continent, government was committed to become international strategies. Development beckoning the ANC ‘to international a full and respected member of the goals, and the idea of a developmental service so that their country may family of nations. It was determined state enjoyed salience as Mbeki fulfill its calling as a responsible global that its diplomacy should conform characterised the Republic in class- citizen’ and summoning citizens to to the institutionalised and accepted racial material terms when he depicted look to the future and challenges of practices derived from international it as a country of two nations and two the millennium. The identity was seen law and diplomatic conventions. The economies that was the legacy of a as strongly African as well as that of a Mandela government realised that its long and sustained period of apartheid good world citizen. respectability abroad would come from and white minority domination. credibility at home and as such worked In order to overcome the The Mandela Period on strengthening and consolidating its deep divisions, Mbeki introduced Contrary to the apartheid era, when young democracy. modifications to the nature of the white minority governments were But as the Republic tried to find state and gave greater prominence banished to the sidelines of world affairs, its new role, so it experimented with to the ideas of transformation and the new post-apartheid Government different conceptions. It tried to pursue developmentalism. By the start of

26 THE THINKER ANC CENTENARY his second term as head of state in national interest paradigm. Instead, a 2004, the government promoted the The years from set of national aims was announced strategy of South Africa becoming a including economic growth, job developmental state, a fast-growing, 1999 to 2008 saw creation, rural development and industrialising nation that prioritised Thabo Mbeki elevate improving the health and education education and health on the basis of a Africa to the top of his profiles of the Republic. These strategic meritocratic civil service. aims were no substitute for a coherent The years from 1999 to 2008 foreign policy agenda national interest doctrine. saw Thabo Mbeki elevate Africa to and assume the role While government is doubtless the top of his foreign policy agenda determined to ensure foreign policy and assume the role of foremost of foremost champion responds in concrete ways to the champion of the continent’s political of the continent’s domestic imperative of creating and socio-economic development economic growth and decent agenda. Mbeki’s government did political and socio- jobs, improving social and human this by negotiating common rules, economic development development and fighting crime and principles and values, crafting corruption, there is little evidence in common institutions, and hoping that agenda. practice that broader international African states would live by this new relations are linked up with these normative framework on the basis of sought to extract commitments from priorities. pacta sunt servanda (the keeping of the industrialised powers for decades of In reality the government continues agreements). Mbeki’s African Agenda colonial domination and exploitation. with grand positions regarding African supported the mantra that there can Mbeki and his administration advancement; strengthening South- be no peace without development also introduced the idea of global South co-operation; improving strategic and no development without peace, governance transformation, and relations with the North; actively and helped to ensure that it became stressed the idea of the reform of the participating in global governance; and accepted by the AU. Functionalism UN Security Council, the IMF, World strengthening bilateral relations while and institutionalism were clear policy Bank, World Trade Organisation, and pursuing economic diplomacy. The thrusts running through the African other global governance institutions. Zuma government, like its predecessors, Agenda, and policy emphasised the is battling with the challenge of building of strong continental and The Zuma Government reconciling moralistic approaches to regional institutions as South Africa The political upheavals at the ANC foreign policy with utilitarian, economic set out to play the role of institution National Conference in Polokwane, self-interest considerations. Moralistic builder and policy initiator. December 2007, did not result in much pronouncements about human rights Mbeki was the chief champion of a change with respect to the domestic clashed with statements about being modernising development model for and foreign policy orientations of the open for business as the country sought the continent in the form of NEPAD, ANC as well as the Zuma government. to realise economic interests in pursuit and played a leading role in negotiating However the Zuma government set of the abovementioned goals. a strategic partnership between Africa out to champion a national interest- Following NATO’s (and, by and the industrialised states on the oriented foreign policy to benefit extension, the UN Security Council’s) basis of mutual accountability and people and country. On the other hand, brutal war against Libya in 2011, responsibility. South Africa set out to in typical Mandela-like fashion, part of questions are being asked about the be the continent’s foremost partnership the national interest paradigm would be very future of what came to be labelled builder, whilst remaining sensitive about to promote values such as non-racialism the African Agenda and the autonomy a perception that it was, or might seek and non-sexism, the supremacy of the and self-determination of Africans to become, a domineering, hegemonic Constitution, and respect for human in world affairs. Doubts are being power in Africa. As a pivotal state in dignity and human rights. raised about whether pivotal African Africa, the Mbeki government chose to What is interesting about the states like South Africa and Nigeria be a non-hegemonic partner to achieve national interest paradigm articulated will restore their leadership roles and its political and development goals. by the Zuma government is that it help to reclaim African international Southern solidarity loomed large is broad, wide-ranging and highly agency. The ANC would do well, both as a priority and it was Mbeki who eclectic. The national interest came to as movement and governing party, emphasised South-South co-operation, be defined so broadly that it ran the to look back at its 100 year existence which gave rise to the -Brazil- risk of becoming an all-encompassing and again reinforce the sacred ideas South Africa (IBSA) Tri-lateral forum concept trying to grapple with a variety of solidarity, self-determination and and the New Asia-Africa Strategic of foreign policy dimensions. While internationalism. This will require that Partnership (NAASP). The Mbeki government declared that its foreign it locates itself squarely within Africa, administration also promoted the idea policy would be driven by the national and as quintessentially African, not of a North-South dialogue, in which interest, almost two years into its term it just another player in a continental African and other developing states has not yet articulated a comprehensive chess game. 

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