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South Africa's Future Foreign Policy

Vol.
72, No.5, November/December 1993

NEW PILLARS FOR A NEW WORLD

As the 1980s drew to a close I could not see much of the world from my prison
cell, but I knew it was changing. There was little doubt in my mind that this
would have a profound impact on my country on the southern African region and
the continent of which I am proud to be a citizen. Although this process of
global change is far from complete, it is clear that all nations will have
boldly to recast their nets if they are to reap any benefit from international
affairs in the post-Cold War era.

The African National Congress (ANC) believes that the charting of a new
foreign policy for South Africa is a key element in the creation of a peaceful
and prosperous country. Apartheid corroded the very essence of life in South
Africa. This is why the country's emerging political leaders are challenged to
build a nation in which all people irrespective of race, color, creed, religion
or sex-can assert fully their human worth; after apartheid, our people deserve
nothing less than the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This vision cannot be realized until South Africa can again participate fully
in world affairs. For four decades South Africa's international relations were
dogged by the apartheid issue. By the end of the 198os, South Africa was one of
the most isolated states on earth. Recovering from this will be no easy task-
Conscious of this difficulty, the ANC is involved in developing those policies
which will be necessary to take South Africa into the new world order as a
responsible global citizen. Additionally, it is concerned with the need to forge
a truly professional diplomatic service which will serve all of South Africa's
peoples and represent their rich diversity. Fortunately, foreign governments
have recognized the importance of this and are generously providing training for
young South Africans who wish to make careers in foreign affairs.

Within the context of the current multi-party negotiations, preliminary
discussions are also under way between political parties with an interest in
foreign affairs in an effort to bridge the divides between them on important
policy questions. The pillars upon which our foreign policy will rest axe the
following beliefs:

• that issues of human rights are central to international relations and an
  understanding that they extend beyond the political, embracing the economic,
  social and environmental;
• that just and lasting solutions to the problems of humankind can only come
  through the promotion of democracy worldwide;
• that considerations of justice and respect for international law should
  guide the relations between nations;
• that peace is the goal for which all nations should strive, and where
  this breaks down, internationally agreed and nonviolent mechanisms, including
  effective arms-control regimes, must be employed;
• that the concerns and interests of the continent of Africa should be
  reflected in our foreign policy choices;
• that economic development depends on growing regional and international
  economic cooperation in an interdependent world.

These convictions stand in stark contrast to how, for nearly five decades,
apartheid South Africa disastrously conducted its international relations.

DEMOCRACY AND DIVERSITY

BECAUSE THE WORLD is a more dangerous place, the internationa1 community dare
not relinquish its commitment to human rights. This appeal also has a special
significance for South Africa. The anti-apartheld campaign was the most
important human rights crusade of the post-World War II era. Its success was a
demonstration, in my opinion, of the oneness of our common humanity: in these
troubled times, its passion should not be lost. Consequently, South Africa win
not be indifferent to the rights of others. Human rights will be the light that
guides our foreign affairs.

Only true democracy can guarantee rights. This is why the ANC's decision to
take up arms to secure the rights of South, Africa's people will only be
fulfilled in a government of the people, by the people and for the people. We
have always embraced the cry for democracy .across the world and South Africa
will therefore be at the forefront of global efforts to promote and foster
democratic systems of government. This is especially important in Africa, and
our concerns will be fixed upon securing a spirit of tolerance and the ethos of
governance throughout the continent. There cannot be one system for Africa and
another for the rest of the world. If there is a single lesson to be drawn from
Africa's post-colonial history, it is that accountable government is good
government.

The growing violence of narrow "nationalism," which can lead to the
Balkanization of states, is of particular concern to South Africans. Ancient and
long-dormant animosities have been unlocked by the ending of the Cold War, and
these now threaten the very existence of some countries. Some suggest that an
international divide is emerging between countries that tolerate diversity and
those that do not. The latter will fall prey to internecine strife, sapping, if
not destroying, the potential of their people. These countries will fall further
and further behind the great technological advances being made elsewhere. As we
witness in Yugoslavia, it is the young who will inherit the political and
economic wasteland consigned to them by the archaic enmities of their fathers.

For many this fate beckons South Africa. Respect for diversity has been
central to the ANC's political credo. As South Africa gears itself for its first
democratic election, this tradition will guide our electoral campaign. But
beyond our shores we will, as responsible international citizens, also honor
this creed. A central goal of our foreign policy will, therefore, be to promote
institutions and forces that, through democratic means, seek to make the world
safe for diversity.

Around the globe, new conflicts and divides are surfacing. The chasm between
the industrialized North and the underdeveloped South is deepening. If there is
to be global harmony, the international community will have to discover
mechanisms to bridge the divide between its rich and its poor. South Africa can
play an important role in this regard because it is situated at a particular
confluence of world affairs. But so too the United Nations has been freed from
the straightjacket of the Cold War. South Africa's people look forward to our
country's return as a full and active member of the United Nations family. It is
the ANC's view that the United Nations has a pivotal role to play in fostering
global security and order. But to achieve this, serious attention must be paid
to a restructuring of the organization. South Africa intends to play a vigorous
role in the debate on this issue. The United Nations should not be dominated by
a single power or group of powers, or else its legitimacy will continuously be
called into question. We hope a mechanism can be found so that the Security
Council can reflect the full tapestry of humankind.

The United Nations and other international organizations have an important
role to play in controlling the worldwide flow of arms. We know this from bitter
experience. South Africa's transition to democracy has been unnecessarily
violent; much of the blame lies in the proliferation of small arms throughout
southern Africa. In addition to acceding to the major arms-control regimes,
South Africa will actively support the United Nations' commitment to a general
and complete disarmament under effective international control.

OUR AFRICAN DESTINY

South Africa cannot escape its African destiny. If we do not devote our
energies to this continent, we too could fall victim to the forces that have
brought ruin to its various parts. Like the United Nations, the Organization of
African Unity needs to be attuned to the changes at work throughout the world. A
democratic South Africa will bring to an end an important chapter in Africa's
efforts to achieve unity and closer cooperation, but it will not close the book.

Africa's international position has been acutely affected by global change.
Some of this is positive. It has, for instance, become less likely that our
continent will, as in the past, be treated as a battleground by contending
forces in wider international conflicts. Economically the position appears less
promising. The shift in international attention toward Eastern Europe has, in
the view of some, increased Africa's marginalization and weakened the
continent's economic position. Africa must respond to this by transforming its
economic base. Greater economic cooperation between the countries of the
continent and the reshaping of trading networks can make a significant
contribution in this regard.

Southern Africa commands a special priority in our foreign policy. We are
inextricably part of southern Africa and our destiny is linked to that of a
region, which is much more than a mere geographical concept. The historical
patterns of relations in southern Africa have, however, been highly uneven and
inequitable. The regional economy that emerged under colonialism entrenched the
domination of one country (South Africa) and incorporated other countries in
subsidiary and dependent roles as labor reserves, markets for South African
commodities, suppliers of certain services (such as transport) or providers of
cheap and convenient resources (like water, electricity and some raw materials).
South Africa's visible exports to the rest of the region exceed imports by more
than five to one. This is a reflection not just of the stronger productive base
of the South African economy, but of barriers of various kinds that have kept
goods produced in regional states out of the South African market. Destructive
apartheid policies have, moreover, caused further distortions. While South
Africans experienced discrimination and repression at home, southern Africa fell
victim to apartheid's destabilization strategy, which left two million dead and
inflicted an estimated $62.45 billion of damage on the economics of our
neighbors.

I share the view of many that the forging of closer economic relations can
potentially be of great benefit both to a democratic South Africa and the rest
of southern Africa. Increased trade with southern Africa and the wider continent
could be of considerable significance for our manufacturing industries.
Neighboring countries, too, could benefit by expanding their exports to South
Africa. At present, only Zimbabwe and some of the Southern African Customs Union
countries, foremost among them Swaziland, have more than a token presence in the
South African market. This is in part a reflection of the strong underlying
protectionist stance toward potential imports from the region. If this were to
change, agricultural and industrial producers in several neighboring countries
could receive an important boost. Cooperation in regional construction,
infrastructure and resource development projects, as well as in virtually every
sector and area, could also be of considerable benefit. In several cases,
notably that of potential water and hydropower projects in several Southern
African Development Community member states, projects will not be economically
Viable unless they can count on exports to South Africa. At the same time, South
Africa would benefit in environmental terms by importing hydropower and could
well become absolutely dependent on water imports from other countries in the
yea-rs ahead.

Southern Africa will, however, only prosper if the principles of equity,
mutual benefit and peaceful cooperation are the tenets that inform its future.
Reconstruction cannot be imposed on the region by external forces or
unilaterally by ourselves as the region's most powerful state. It must be the
collective enterprise of southern Africa's people. Democratic South Africa will,
therefore, resist any pressure or temptation to pursue its own interests at the
expense of the subcontinent. Likewise, militaristic approaches to security and
cooperation have no place in southern Africa. In partnership with its neighbors,
a democratic South Africa will promote the creation of regional structures for
crisis prevention and management. These should be augmented by institutions that
offer facilitation, mediation and arbitration of interstate conflicts.

We are sensitive to the fact that any program that promotes greater
cooperation and integration in southern Africa must be sensitive to the acute
imbalances in existing regional economic relations. Any move toward a common
market or economic community must ensure that industrial development in the
entire region is not prejudiced. It is essential therefore that a program to
restructure regional economic relations after apartheid be carefully calibrated
to avoid exacerbating inequities. Similar principles will govern the
transformation of such exploitative aspects of the regional economy as the
migrant labor system. With many others, we believe this system is detrimental to
development. It is, nevertheless, deeply entrenched, and a number of countries
have become critically dependent on it for employment and foreign -exchange
earnings.

Democratic South Africa will not adopt a narrow, chauvinistic approach to
this issue and will not make unilateral changes to the system. Instead, it will
seek an acceptable regional solution that takes account of the needs of the
labor-supplying states.

In forging links with our neighbors, the ANC will draw on an African
tradition, of which we are a part, of promoting greater continental unity. We
are currently involved in consultations with the Southern African Development
Community, and the Eastern and Southern African Preferential Trade Area. We look
for-ward to a mutually beneficial association with both of these important
vehicles for promoting regional prosperity. At the same time we recognize that
southern Africa cannot afford a proliferation of institutions or a duplication
of efforts and that the challenges of the future will require considerable
institutional development. We likewise look forward to becoming involved in the
process of reforming the Southern African Customs Union, linking our country to
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS). Although SACU is the oldest
integration arrangement in Africa, its current modus operandi is far from
satisfactory The old formula, in which "captive markets"for South African goods
in the BLNS were bought by the allocation of a disproportionate share of customs
revenue, has recently come under strain from both the South African Finance
Ministry and neighboring countries. Our approach to the reform of SACU will be
guided by broader considerations than the implications for the South African
treasury We will seek to democratize the institutions of SACU, within the
framework of a broader regional program, and to remove barriers in the existing
arrangement to a more balanced location of industries.

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

The primary motivation of the ANC's foreign economic policies as a whole will
be to place South Africa on the path of rapid economic development with a view
to addressing three. key problem areas: slow growth, severe poverty, and extreme
inequalities in living standards, income, and opportunity. The South African
economy has grown very slowly since the early 1970s, with the exception of short
periods of gold market booms. Annual GDP declined from almost six percent in the
196os to less than four percent the following decade and to barely one percent
during the 198os. The economy contracted sharply during the recession-bound
199os, and in n of the past 12 years, per capita income declined.

Poverty is manifested in extremely high levels of unemployment in South
Africa, widely estimated to be above 40 percent, and by very poor social and
economic indicators for the black population, particularly in the rural areas.
These problems are compounded by the fact that inequalities remain entrenched on
racial lines.

A recent World Bank report estimated that South African whites have a
personal per capita income level that is 9.5 times higher than Africans, 4.5
times higher than people classified as colored (mixed race) by the apartheid
system, and 3 times than Asians. Patterns of inequality extend beyond this to
the provision of services, access to education, employment opportunities, and
wealth generation---all still heavily inclined toward the white population.

As part of the global economy, South Africa has been deeply affected by the
worldwide economic slowdown that began in the late 198os, compounded in our case
by the political uncertainties that face potential investors. There are many
reasons for this state of affairs, the most important of which has been the
political and economic policies of successive apartheid governments since 1948.
These policies were destructive and wasteful but, more important, they conspired
to prevent South Africa's economy from adapting to changing global conditions.

South Africa's staple exports - gold and other metals and minerals - have
encountered deteriorating market conditions for many years, but the country has
failed to develop more competitive alternatives. The ANC Will inherit a
relatively open economy, dependent on many imports from the outside world, but
without the wherewithal to pay for them in the long term if the economy does not
begin to grow rapidly. The key to South African recovery and growth is the
strengthening of economic activities in which we have some potential and that
are in international demand, but that have failed to achieve that potential in
the past. Our manufacturing and service sectors will be critically important.
South Africa does have potentially competitive manufacturing sectors such as
metal engineering, pulp and paper, and some likely ser~ vice sectors too, of
which banking, insurance and tourism are the most important.

The ANC believes that the fundamental policies for achieving our potential in
these and other sectors include: developing effective education and training
programs; attracting foreign investment that strengthens our technological
capacity and market access; engaging in a measured program of trade-policy
reform that encourages competitive domestic sectors and lowers our import bill;
a tough competition and antitrust policy that lowers prices and raises the
efficiency of business as well as creates opportunities for black business
development; and finally, the development of a range of initiatives to stimulate
private sector investment and restructuring.

It is quite clear that the above policies are not a quick cure and that
implementation will take some time. Given the inequalities in the South African
economy it is equally clear that a number of short-term strategies are needed to
help address immediate problems and to build the foundations of democracy. We
must create jobs in urban and rural areas, partly through state intervention,
assist small black business and micro- enterprises, improve access to housing
and basic services, and restructure social-security programs for the very poor,
the disabled, and the aged.

It is obvious to me that the primary components of our international economic
relations, which must feed our development strategy, are the strengthening of
our trade performance and our capacity to attract foreign investment. In
addition we must examine the possibilities of obtaining technical and financial
assistance from the developed industrial countries. We do not expect foreign
investment to solve our economic problems, but we understand that it can play a
very valuable role in our economic development. Though the inflow of direct and
indirect investment will strengthen our reserves, most investment will have to
be drawn from domestic sources. There are a number of institutions in our
society with investment funds at hand, and more will grow.

These institutions will be expected to make a meaningful contribution to our
economic development in a number of ways-some still under consideration - but
including mechanisms such as prescribed investment. But foreign investors can
open up new possibilities. They can bring new skills and technologies to a South
Africa starved of innovation and technical know-how and can gain us access to
new markets. Foreign investors can also provide competition for domestic
monopolies and oligopolies, which have thrived on South Africa's isolation at
the expense of ordinary people. They can establish partnerships with black South
Africans who have deliberately been crippled, economically, by the apartheid
system. The ANC believes the most important way to at-tract foreign investment
is to create a stable and democratic political environment. Also important is
the development of legitimate, transparent and consistent economic policies.
Foreign companies should be treated as domestic companies, obeying our laws and
gaining access to our incentives, and the ANC is committed to the principle of
uniform treatment. And while we do not plan to provide exclusive incentives for
all foreign investors, we realize that it might be necessary to make special
arrangements to attract the kind of investment that will make a rea-1 difference
in South Africa.

TRADE AND RECIPROCITY

The second primary component of our international economic relations that I
referred to was our trade performance. Central to this concept, of course, is
South Africa's full reintegration into the global trading regime. While we will
strive to accommodate the concerns of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) in regard to the high levels of protection of South African industry and
to open our markets to global trade, we insist this is a two-way process. South
Africa reserves the right to discriminate against the products of any country
that will not open its market to South African goods. In short the concept of
reciprocity will be paramount.

We cannot be expected to reintegrate our trade regime into the global system
overnight, and we will resist any attempt by the GATT to force us to do so.
While we will be enthusiastic supporters of free trade, we ask our trading
partners and the GATT to understand that we cannot put thousands of jobs at risk
by embarking on a speedy and uncoordinated revision of our total tariff regime.
We shall undertake to reduce the number of tariff lines and to rationalize and
simplify the tariff structure so that it begins to move closer to the rules and
expectations of the GATT, but we are not prepared to place the demands of the
global community ahead of the desires and needs of our people. We therefore
envisage a considered program of trade policy reform that will address not only
the levels of protection but also the development of effective export incentives
that are internationally acceptable. The ANC remains concerned that, even if the
Uruguay Round succeeds, the development of trading blocs (such as the European
Community and NAFTA) might weaken the position of developing countries,
particularly those - like South Africa - that are not members of any trading
bloc. We remain concerned, too, that the Uruguay Round continues to neglect the
interests of the South and that the negotiations seem disproportionately
centered around the interests of farmers in the developed countries.

A democratic South Africa will seek new avenues for its export products,
including agricultural produce, and we reserve the right within the framework of
the GATT to seek new export markets as aggressively as possible. At the same
time we recognize the importance of the European Community, our largest trade
and investment partner, and will actively seek to consolidate our long-standing
relationship with the EC. As part of this process we are currently examining a
number of options in regard to our future economic relations with the EC with a
view to gaining preferential access to European markets. 1n addition we are
examining methods of expanding and strengthening our relationship with North
America, Japan, and the Pacific Rim economics.

We will seek assurances from members of the major trading blocs on the issue
of market access, and we will strive to strengthen our South-South ties to help
protect us against economic marginalization.

FRIEND TO THE WORLD

South Africa's future foreign relations will be based on our belief that
human rights should be the core concern of international relations, and we are
ready to play a role in fostering peace and prosperity in the world we share
with the community of nations. We are well aware how important and how difficult
the process of reintegration into the global political and economic system will
be for South Africa. The ANC will be among the first in South Africa to take
full responsibility for our own destiny, but we believe that as a developing
country undergoing a difficult transition, we can expect the developed
industrial nations of the world to assist us in this task. We are prepared, too,
to shoulder our share of the responsibility for the whole southern African
region, not in the spirit of paternalism or dominance but mutual cooperation and
respect.

The time has come for South Africa to take up its rightful and responsible
place in the community of nations. Though the delays in this process, forced
upon us by apartheid, make it all the more difficult for us, we believe that we
have the resources and the commitment that will allow us to begin to make our
own positive contribution to peace, prosperity and goodwill in the world in the
very near future.

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