🔒 Boardroom Talk: Massive divergence between SA voters and ANC on how they view world’s Great Powers

By Alec Hogg

As a mere cork on the geopolitical ocean, South Africa has to box cleverly. Sometimes it trips up. Take this week’s visit by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. The Putin-confidante milked photo-ops for all they were worth, helped by a naïve SA counterpart Naledi Pandor who has yet to learn that sometimes you shouldn’t smile for the camera.

What surprised us was not Lavrov praising SA’s “position of principle” for refusing to condemn Putin’s Blitzkrieg-type invasion of Ukraine. Rather, it was Pandor’s friendliness with her counterpart, leading with her diplomatic chin. Having attended Davos last week, she would know how democracies (and multinational businesses) are boycotting Russia. Indeed, SA’s most valuable company Naspers took a $4bn hit on the sale of Russian assets.

The saga supports those who believe ANC leadership is out of touch – not just with global opinion but also its own constituency. On cue, the Social Research Foundation yesterday released conclusions of research into SA voters’ views on foreign powers. Russia scored terribly (see above) with the ANC’s own voters choosing the USA 30x above Putinland.

The SRF research shows across all party, racial and income lines, at least 6 of every 10 South Africans would prefer to live and work in a western liberal democracy with only one in 10 opting for either Cuba, Russia or China. The Foundation concludes: “The data jars somewhat with SA’s foreign policy.” And will be delighting Opposition political parties as 2024 looms.

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