Prior to 1994, South Africa’s diplomatic isolation prevented it from exerting any influence; the Pretoria regime had to content itself with limited geopolitical objectives, dominated by concerns about the security of its borders and of its white ‘populations’. The new South Africa has resolutely turned its back on this legacy. The end of apartheid and the emergence of the ANC mark the return of Pretoria to both the world and African stages. The new regime often presents itself as a mediator in conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and presses for reform of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU). It is also deeply involved in the wide-ranging political discussions associated with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the ‘African Renaissance’. South Africa now has a solid presence in international organisations; it has taken on the role of advocate for multilateralism, and pleads Africa’s cause in all international forums. This wide-ranging activism is viewed with suspicion by certain African nations, who are quick to see in South Africa the stirrings of domination. There are even signs of irritation amongst the major Western powers. And then there is of course the gap between ambitious plans and their implementation.
South Africa's Foreign Policy
The establishment of apartheid in 1948 marked the start of a lengthy period of isolation of South Africa, which relegated the nation’s political ambitions to the protection of its frontiers against the ‘front-line’ states (Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) suspected of ‘communist intentions’. Its diplomatic and economic outreach was thus sacrificed to the cause of the creation of a security shield that gave the country the appearance of a besieged citadel.
Relations with London (the old governing power) became strained after Pretoria was expelled from the Commonwealth in 1961. The outlook also worsened as far as international organisations were concerned, with the UN General Assembly in 1966 declaring illegal the South African occupation of Namibia (previously South West Africa, mandated to South Africa by the League of Nations in 1920); the UN then officially placed the territory under its responsibility. These events were not unrelated to the deterioration in the regional situation. The wave of decolonisation in southern Africa led to the emergence of states with communist tendencies (Angola and Mozambique), and the coming to power of Robert Mugabe in 1980 in Rhodesia, renamed Zimbabwe, brought down the last white bastion allied to Pretoria.
Internally, apartheid entered a phase of withdrawal behind a defensive wall. To combat the African National Congress (ANC), the main opposition force, with its headquarters at Lusaka in Zambia, Pretoria developed an imposing repressive apparatus: a unique legal framework was introduced (the Public Safety Act in 1953 and the Terrorism Act in 1967), a secret police force was created (Bureau of State Security), the SANDF (South African National Defence Force) became a redoubtable and battle-hardened instrument for undertaking operations in neighbouring territories, above all in Angola, and a powerful independent arms industry emerged.
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